This Is My World:Gaara Love Story
by Zall88
Summary: Julia get's a visite from the Naruto characters and they explain their misson to her. She starts to have feelings for Gaara, and he for her, but what happens when he and the others have to go back? Julia's bff Mo has the same problem with Kiba.


**Okay, so I do all my stories in first person (I, me, my, ext.) so if you don't like it when it does that please just deal with it or you don't have to read it. Feed back is always welcome, so feel free to do so! :) Thanks so much and I hope you enjoy the story! One more thing; you'll notice that these characters don't have ****Japanese **names,. That's because they live in America. Enjoy! ^.^

**This Is **_**My**_** World:**

Have you ever felt, that right when you think you figured out your life, it all gets turned around? Yes? No? Well whatever, this is my life. And this is where it all started…

Sitting on my roof, leaning against the chimney, and reading Lynsay Sands' "Vampire, Interrupted." I was really getting into the book, and then there was a hand waving frantically over the page I was on. It shocked me, so I dropped my book, lost my footing- that was keeping me up- and was about to fall. Luckily, the hand of the person that spooked me caught me. The person pulled me into a standing position, so I was facing them.

The person looked just like Naruto, from well, Naruto. The person even has the lines on his face, eye color, and horrified and confused facial expression right.

"Please, you have to hide me," the person dressed as Naruto pleaded.

"Um," I didn't know what to say.

The kid walked over to the chimney, and before I could say anything, jumped down. I heard an "oof," followed by an "ow." Then somebody tapped me on the shoulder. I spun around, coming face-to-face with, what else, more people dressed like Naruto characters! There was a Kakashi, Sasuke, Sakura, Kiba and Akamaru, Shika, Hinata, Temari, Kankuro, Iruka, and then I saw- who I always thought was the cutest- Gaara.

"Okay, who the heck are you people? How did you get on my roof? Why you all are dressed up as characters from the Naruto show? And most importantly, why the heck did some kid in a Naruto costume jump down my chimney?!"

They all looked shocked, but the guy dressed as Iruka recovered first. He stepped forward.

"I'm Iruka, that's Kakashi, Sasuke, Sakura, Kiba and his dog Akamaru, Shikamaru, Hinata, Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara. Um, I don't know what you are talking about costumes. We jumped up here when we saw you, hoping you could help us. And I'm assuming it was Naruto that jumped down your chimney."

'_These people are crazy,'_ I thought.

The man as Kakashi stepped up to stand next to the Iruka guy. "Look, you probably think we're all crazy, but just let us explain what happened. Does that seem fare?"

I nodded my head and said, "Yah, that sounds fare," I looked over toward the chimney, "we should probably go inside and get the Naruto guy out of my fire place."

"Can't he just climb out?" the Sakura girl asked.

"No, we have a metal guarder up so the ashes don't fall out and start our house on fire. He's kind of trapped in there till we get him out," I said, heading toward the secret door into my attic.

"Hn. I say we leave him in there," I heard the Sasuke guy say.

Then it hit me. "Oh, and so you don't have to explain it twice, I'll have to call my friend Mo over."

"Mo?" the Kiba guy asked.

"It's her nick-name. It's short for Marissa," I replied, as we all headed inside.

We headed through my attic, and I stood over a square I had drawn on the floor. I smiled; it was the only way I knew how to get up there. I jumped, and when I landed the square opened like a door. I fell through, and landed in my bedroom. My bedroom looked just like a forest. It had plants all over the room, and the walls have trees painted on them. I stepped to the side.

"Come on! Just stand in the middle of the square and jump!" I yelled up when nobody followed.

It was about another minuet before the Kakashi guy came through the attic door. He landed, looked around, saw me, and stepped to the other side.

"It's alright! You can come down!" he called up.

Then Iruka showed up, followed by Gaara, Sasuke, Sakura, Kiba and Akamaru, Shika, Konkuro, Temari, and finally Hinata. They were all looking around my bedroom. I was proud of my bedroom, but this was making me somewhat uncomfortable having them all look around like this.

"Um, I think we need to get the Naruto guy out of my fire-place now." I said, trying to hint that this situation was making me uncomfortable.

I walked toward my door, opened it, and started walking down the long hallway. Now, my family is pretty wealthy, so I have a fairly nice sized house. I live out in the woods with my parents, and our closest neighbor just happens to be my best-friend Mo. I descended the stairs, turned to the right, and went down the other flight of stairs. This was our bottom level-other than the basement. I opened the door to the family room, and walked in, everybody following me.

"Will somebody get me out of here!" the Naruto guy was yelling.

Everybody started laughing, when they saw the Naruto guy rattling the chain fence over the fire-place all covered in ash.

"Yes, yes, I'll get you out. Just hold on a moment." I replied.

I walked over, and started to un-twist the corners of the fencing. Then I remembered my white carpets.

"When I get this off of here, you have to stay in there." I said, as I got the first twist off.

"What, why?"

"Because I have white carpets! My parents are out of town on a business trip for a week, and I gave the maid the week off as well. And I am _not_ scrubbing ash out of my carpets. Do you even know what kind of a stain that will leave?" I asked, getting the second one off the top.

I let it fall open, and stepped back. I turned to the others.

"Make your selves comfortable, I'm going to go get some newspaper to lie out so he can go get cleaned up." I said, as I gestured to the couches. I turned back to the Naruto guy. "You, stay where you are."

"Bu-" he started.

"Stay." I commanded just as if I were training a puppy.

I walked out of the room, up the stairs- grabbing the phone on my way by- and went over to our cupboard where we kept our recycling and garbage. I dialed Mo's number (XXX)-XXX-XXXX, while taking out this morning's paper out of the recycling bin. The phone rung twice and Mo answered.

"Hi, Julia! What's up?"

"You have to come over. Like, now."

"Okay, why? Where's the fire?"

"In my family room. Can you sleep over too?"

"Yah, just give me five minuets to pack, and I'll have somebody drop me off. I'll be there in about twenty minuets."

"Sounds good, see you then. Bye!"

"Bye!"

I pressed the red end button just as I was opening the family room door. Everybody was sitting on the couches, well all but the Naruto guy, who was sitting on a log in the fire-place. I walked over and started placing the paper out, making my way out of the room, down the hall, and to one of our bathrooms. I walked back in the family room.

"Walk on these papers, and follow them. You'll find our bathroom. Oh, and I'll have somebody send in some clean clothes."

The Naruto guy nodded his head, and started to walk on the papers.

"Oh, and if you get any of that ash anywhere other than the shower. You're dead. Understood?"

"Yah, yah."

I turned back to the others, and sat on my floor, seeing as all the other seats were taken.

"So, my friend Mo will be here in twenty minuets. We can take a tour of my house while we wait for the Naruto guy to get done with his shower." I suggested.

"Alright, and you can stop putting guy after all of our names. We really are who we say we are." The Iruka guy said.

"Um, you're a television show."

"A what?" asked the Sakura girl.

"I'll show you one on the tour. Come on."

I took them on a tour of my house, and I was grateful that I had such a big house. I have four extra bedrooms in my house. Each containing a bed, and a futon. That means that there can be three people per bedroom. On a piece of paper, I was trying to figure out the sleeping arrangements. This is what I figured out.

**Bedroom one- pink and white: Sakura and Hinata and Temari (single for whoever and futon for the other two)**

**Bedroom two-blue and white: Kakashi(single bed) and Naruto and Sasuke (futon)**

**Bedroom three- orange and white: Iruka (single bed) and Shikamaru (futon)**

**Bedroom four- black and white: Konkuro and Kiba/Akamaru (futon) and Gaara (single bed)**

Just as I was passing around the sheet for people to see, the doorbell rang.

"That'll be Mo!" I exclaimed.

I rushed down the stairs and through open the door. Mo was standing there with a pillow under one arm and her dark blue duffle bag slung over the other shoulder.

"Mo! Come on! We can drop your stuff off in my room, then head to the family room!" I was excited to show her the people who thought that they were Naruto characters. Thought I had no idea why.

"Who, hold up!" Mo was yelling, as I took her bag from her and started running up the stairs.

We dropped her stuff off, and headed down to the family room. I opened the door, and everybody was there sitting. Even the Naruto guy, who I had Sasuke bring some clothes and had joined us at the end of the tour.

"Who the heck are you people?!" Mo yelled.

"Come on, they showed up here, and now they have to tell us why." I pulled Mo down to sit on the carpet with me.

"Alright. Orochimaru escaped our world, and somehow got into yours. We followed him, and it is our mission to bring him back. We understand that in your world we are fictional, but we are now very much real. Here, let me show you." The Kakashi guy said, as he started to do some hand seals. "Chidori!"

Chidori showed up in his hand, and he was about to hit my wall.

"No, stop! Okay, we believe you! Don't hit the wall! It won't just magically fix itself later!" Mo and I both yelled. Weird, we both said all that at the same time.

Kakashi deactivated his chidori, and turned to Mo and I.

"Thank you. Okay, now that the wall isn't going to be destroyed-" I started to say, and Mo and I both finished it with "-That is so cool! You guys are real!"

Everybody gave a chuckle, and I saw Mo blush when she noticed that she was standing so close to Kiba. I smiled to myself mentally at the way she was blushing and he was just laughing at what we just said. They really did look cute together. Then it was Iruka's voice that brought me back to reality.

"Alright, now that everything is settled, here's the real question," Iruka was saying.

"How are we going to find Orochimaru?" Gaara finished.

I glanced toward Gaara-because I usually, like most people, look at the people when they talk-but it seemed that right as I looked at him, he was turned to look away.

'_That's weird. Was he looking at me? Well no duh! Mo and I are just standing here, laughing! Of course he was looking at us! That, and we were screaming a moment ago,'_ Yes, I have conversations in my head with myself. Deal with it.

"Okay, if you want to find a perverted freak. What do you do?" Mo asked me, knowing what I would say.

"Well, to find him, we have to think like him," I said, "So, what would be the first thing I would do if I came to a new world?"

Everybody thought, and then Gaara spoke.

"I'd try to find somebody that would help me, and give me a place to stay."

"So, where would he stay?" Kiba asked.

Everybody thought for a moment, and then Naruto shot up from his seat, and yelled, "I got it!"

"Where?" Sakura asked, getting excited.

"Get this, he would stay at…" he paused for dramatic effect, "a hotel!"

I'm not kidding when I said that everybody fell. We were all leaning forward so much in anticipation, that Mo and I fell to the ground, and everybody else fell out of their seats.

"Ouch," Mo and I complained as we rubbed our noses.

Then I felt someone helping me up. I looked up, and blushed. Gaara was helping me up- and maybe it was just my imagination- but he looked concerned.

"Are you alright?" he asked, as he helped me stand up.

"Yah, thanks for asking," I replied, my face going a deeper shade of red.

'_Oh gosh. I hope no one sees how much I'm blushing,' _I thought.

I looked over, and noticed that Kiba was helping Mo up off the ground. I was grateful that I wasn't the only one blushing as red as an apple.

"Um, Naruto? I don't think that's where Orochimaru would go," Kakashi said when everybody was standing again.

"Idiot," I heard Sasuke mutter.

"Okay, lets see the rest of you come up with something better," Naruto protested.

"Okay, how about we ask Marissa and Julia where they think he would go. It's obvious that they know this world better than we do," Temari suggested.

Everybody turned to us. Mo and I were thinking of all the possible places that he could be, when we both blurted out, "MICHEL JACKSON!" (Um, let's just say he's only like a one hour drive out of town, and it's a ten minuet bike-ride into town, so one hour and five minuets lets say he lives from my house).

"Who's that?" Shika asked.

"He's our best guess where he would go to stay," Mo replied.

"Yah, he's like the biggest pervert ever," I added.

Then everybody-including Mo and I- looked at Kakashi reading his perverted book.

"Even bigger than Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked.

"Way bigger," Mo and I both said while nodding.

"Alright, where does this sick-o live?! We're going to _so_kick his butt!" Naruto yelled.

"About an hour and five minuet drive from here," Mo said.

"How do you know that?" Kiba asked.

Mo and I shrugged.

"It's recommended that families know how far away he lives just in case," I said.

"Why?" Kankuro asked.

"Safety purposes," Mo said.

There was a scratching at the door, and everybody looked that way. I walked over toward the door, and opened it. There was a little white blur, and then I was on my butt again. A pink toung was licking my face, and I could just see a white tail wagging frantically.

"Hey baby! Haven't seen you all day! Where've you been?" I asked my west-highland-white-terrier.

I stood up holding my 'baby' and turned to everybody else. Mo came running up to us, and immediately started to pet him on the head.

"Coconut! I was wondering where you were! You didn't great me at the door like you usually do," she said, as everybody looked at us confused.

"Everybody, this is my dog Coconut," I said, and then added, "I wonder where he was all day?"

Naruto was shifting uncomfortably back and forth. I handed Mo Coconut, and walked over to him. I was glairing up at him (lets just say that they are taller, and one year older).

"What did you do to my baby?" I asked.

This only made him more confused, because he asked, "You have a baby?"

"No, baby is what she calls Coconut," Mo said, blushing as Kiba was standing next to her petting Coconut.

"Stop avoiding the question. What did you do to him?" I asked again.

He laughed nervously, "Heh heh, you see, the funny thing was. I thought he was a demon dog when he came up and started to growl at me," he started.

"You're going to have less pain if you just tell her what you did. Julia's very protective of animals and nature," Mo interrupted.

"Yah, um. I, well you see, I put him outside," he said.

"You thought he was a _demon_? How the heck can you mistake a _small_ dog like Coconut, for a _giant_ demon? Aren't they supposed to be huge in their original state?"

"He growled at me!" Naruto protested.

"Yah, he did! He didn't know you, and you were in his house! He probably thought you were a robber or something," I was angry, and Mo was just smiling.

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry. Don't hurt me."

I punched him in the face, not hard, just enough for him to fall over. Then I turned around, and everyone was smiling, apparently finding my little blow up amusing.

"Oaky," I looked at the clock, "5:00. Who wants dinner?"

Everybody raised their hands, and Kakashi and Iruka said, "Thank you."

Mo and I walked into the walk-in pantry, and looked at our options. Mo walked back out, and asked everybody what they wanted from the choices we had. We had, Mac-and-cheese, a variety of soups and chowders, ramen, spaghetti with garlic bread and meatballs, ravioli with garlic bread and meatballs, salad, or a variety of meats (chicken [in many forms and tastes], steak, hamburger, hot-dogs, ext).

In the end, I ended up making everybody Mac-and-cheese, and Naruto four bowls of chicken-flavored-ramen. Mo and I set the plates down in front of everybody, and we sat down. Mo and I folded our hands, and everybody looked at us.

"Oh, sorry. You guys probably don't do this, but Julia and I pray before we eat," Mo explained.

Everybody nodded, and folded their hands as well.

"Julia, I think it's your turn to say prayer. I said it last time we had a sleep over," Mo said.

"Right. Bless us Lord, for these gifts which we are about to receive, from thou bounty, through Christ thy Lord, amen,"

"What was that?" Naruto asked.

"Prayer, to show our thanks that we are lucky enough to have food on our table to feed us," I explained as Mo and I picked up our forks.

Everybody looked down at theirs and Naruto at his spoon.

"Not to sound rude, but what are these?" Iruka asked, picking up his fork.

"A fork and Naruto has a spoon," Mo answered.

"Oh, sorry. Do you guys want chop-sticks?" I asked, for some odd reason, we have a bunch where we keep our silver-wear.

"Please," they all said.

Mo collected the forks and Naruto's spoon, and I got everybody chop-sticks. I handed them out, and sat back down with Mo. After we all ate, we decided to get ready for bed, and luckily it was a Friday, so Mo could spend the whole day tomorrow. Then Gaara came up to me, making me blush.

"I don't need a bed, so I'm giving it to Kankuro, so Kiba and Akamaru can have more room on the futon (futons are bigger, and I figured that Akamaru would feel better not sleeping on the floor)."

"Yah, sorry. I forgot about that," I said.

"That's fine, you thought we were freaks dressed up when you assigned us rooms. Don't worry about it," he said, and I nodded. Then he said, "May I sit on your roof?"

"Yah, we have to go through my room, so come on," I said, leading Gaara up the hall to my room, to use the ladder to the attic.

Once we got up to my room, Mo was pulling out the extra bed attached to mine (you know the bed that has the other one under it?). She looked up, and smiled at me when she saw that I was with Gaara. I gave her a, you-say-anything-to-make-me-blush-and-you're-dead, look. But knowing Mo, she just couldn't keep her mouth shut.

"So, Gaara? What are you doing up here. Because Julia may be clumsy, but she's not going to kill herself on the stairs," she said, her smile only going wider when I blushed a light rose.

"I was taking him to the roof," I said, walking over to my closet.

I opened my closet, and pulled out a pole. Gaara looked at me with a confused look, so I explained.

"It's to open the trap door into the attic," I said.

"You can put that away, Julia. I got this," Gaara said, taking the cork out of his gourd.

Sand started to come out of the top, and I think I looked like a kid in a candy shop, the way I was so mesmerized by his sand. I didn't see-being so into looking at his sand going around my room-that Gaara was smiling. Gaara made his sand push on the spot where the trap door was. The door flew open, and the sand created a small staircase up into the attic.

"That is so cool!" Mo and I exclaimed at the same time.

"Goodnight, Julia, Mo. Sleep well," Gaara said, making me blush a deep scarlet.

Gaara went up the ladder, and the sand disappeared. I sat down on my bed, and turned to Mo, who had her bed all ready. She was smiling evilly at me. I raised an eyebrow at her, wondering what she was thinking. (By the way, we were in out pajamas).

"What are you thinking Mo?" I asked.

"You know school ends in five days (remember it's Friday, and school ends on Wednesday). Depending on how fast they find Orochimaru, we could end up spending almost the entire summer with them!" Mo exclaimed, excited.

"Yah! Hmm, maybe we could convince them to not look for Orochimaru tomorrow, and go somewhere fun?" I asked.

"Yah! Where should we go?" Mo asked.

We both thought for a moment, and then Mo had an idea.

"Hey! We could get a bunch of movies, and buy a bunch of popcorn, soda, and candy!"

"That's a great idea! Hmm, we should probably go see what movies I have in the basement," I said, referring to the movie case down there.

"Well, come on! Let's go see!"

Mo shot up, grabbed my hand, and pulled me out of my room. We dashed down the stairs, and opened the door leading to the basement. I flipped on the light, while Mo was already going toward the case. We spent so much time at each other's houses that we could probably run the houses backwards blindfolded.

"Hmm, what type of movies do we want? Funny, scary, action, suspense, romance?" Mo asked, looking at the movies that I had sorted by group.

"I say we grab one funny, one scary, one action, and one suspense," I suggested. When Mo looked at me, I added, "It is going to be an all day thing. Besides, they don't know what types of movies we watch here."

"Right! You pick scary and suspense and I'll pick funny and action?" she suggested.

I nodded, and walked over to the section that I had the scary movies in. I smiled, it wasn't the scariest movie ever, it was just an old horror film, but it was one of my favorites. It had Bruce Willis in it, playing the psychologist, and personally I say it was his best ever. I pulled it off the shelf, and Mo looked over.

"The Sixth Sense? What's that?" she asked.

"One of the best films ever, that's what it is. I'll read the back out loud to everybody tomorrow," I said, moving over to the suspense section.

I knew what movie I wanted right away when I looked at the section. Also an old-time-favorite of mine. It was a great suspense movie, and as a child, kept me out of the ocean. I looked for the 'J' section and pulled it off the shelf. I turned to Mo, and held it out. She looked at the cover, and smiled.

"Jaws. Nice. I love that movie," she said, holding out her two movies for me to see.

I took them from her, and smiled at the first one, "Zorro, one of my favorite action movies." I looked at the second one, and laughed, "Perfect. The Wedding Singer. Nothing better for a funny movie."

I put her movies on-top of mine, and we rushed up the stairs. We stopped at the game room and dropped the movies off on the coffee fable. After that, we headed upstairs to go to bed. Mo and I were running up the stairs, her in font of me, and she ran right into Kiba coming out of the bathroom. She ended up knocking him to the ground, her falling on-top on him. They both blushed a deep scarlet, and I was trying to hold back two things. One, the laughter bubbling up, and two, the 'aww' that wanted to come out with the laughter.

Mo quickly got up, offered her hand to Kiba, and said, "Sorry about that. I should have been watching where I was going."

Kiba took her hand, still blushing, and said, "It's no problem. I should look both ways before crossing the hallway."

Mo and Kiba both laughed, and Kiba entered his room. I elbowed Mo, and whispered, "You're redder than an apple."

Mo elbowed me back and whispered, "It's just karma for what I did to you and Gaara."

"You bet it is! Come on, let's get to bed."

We entered my room, and Coconut was sleeping on my pillow. I sighed, and walked over to my bed, getting under the covers, and laying my head on a spot where my dog wasn't sleeping on.

"Night Mo," I said, turning off the night-stand light.

"Night," she replied.

The next morning, Mo and I got dressed, and did all the morning stuff. We headed downstairs, and got out fourteen bowls and spoons. I got out the milk, while Mo got out the cereal.

"Breakfast!" we both called.

There was some grumbling, then some shuffling, followed by twelve body's coming down the stairs in borrowed pajamas. They all took seats at the table (I'm wealthy remember, we have a _big_ table).

"What type of cereal do you all want?" Mo asked.

"What's cereal?" Kankuro asked.

I shrugged, "Sugar with milk?"

They all looked somewhat repulsed, so Mo and I just poured everybody a bowl. We handed them each a bowl, and sat down. Mo and I each took a bite of ours-Mo had coco puffs and I had Special K- and everybody followed.

"Hey, this is pretty good," Sakura said.

"Yep, good old sugar in a box," Mo said, making everybody laugh.

"Hey, Mo and I were thinking last night," I started.

"Before you guys get searching for Orochimaru, do you guys want to have a movie day?" Mo asked.

"What's a movie?" asked Temari.

"You know the television I showed you yesterday? You put a DVD in it, and you can watch something as many times as you want," I explained.

"Sure, we can spare a day. What are we watching?" Iruka asked.

"We'll show you after we're done with breakfast," I said.

After breakfast, and starting the dishwasher, we all headed downstairs to the game room. I picked up the four movies, and read the backs out loud.

"Okay, we have a funny movie, an action movie, a suspense movie, and a horror movie. Because it's a movie day, we're going to watch them all. You guys can pick the order," Mo said, before I read the backs.

"Our funny movie is, The Wedding Crashers! John Beckwith (Wilson) and Jeremy Grey (Vaughn), single bachelors, are long-time friends (since 1989) and business partners in divorce mediation in Washington D.C. The friends frequently "crash" (attend as uninvited guests) wedding parties to meet women, working from a set of rules taught to them by P-folks, (Patrick Folkerts) also known as the ultimate game spitter. The duo always has cover stories for inquisitive guests and inevitably become the hit of every reception, to charm their way into the hearts of a bridesmaid for one night only."

"Our action movie is The Mask Of Zorro! In 1821, the Mexican Army is on the verge of liberating its country from Spanish colonial rule. In the area of present-day California, the cruel and ruthless Spanish Governor, Don Rafael Montero is about to be overthrown. In a last ditch effort to trap his arch-nemesis, the masked swordsman Zorro, Montero lays a trap by condemning three innocent men to death. Zorro arrives and begins fighting the guards, not noticing an extra contingent awaiting him on a nearby balcony. The trap is thwarted with assistance from two orphan brothers, Joaquinand Alejandro Murrieta; whereupon Zorro rewards Joaquin with a medal he is wearing. Zorro then lands in front of Montero and cuts a "Z" into his neck as a reminder to never return to California. Calling his faithful black stallion, Toronado, Zorro rides up into the sunset and waves his sword into the sky in front of the cheering populace."

"Our suspense movie is Jaws! The film begins at a late night beach party on Amity Island, from which a young woman named Christine Watkins leaves to go swimming. While in the water, she is suddenly jerked around and then pulled under by an unseen force. The next morning, police chief Martin Brody (Roy Scheider) is notified that Chrissie is missing. Brody and his deputy Hendricks find her mutilated remains washed up on the shore. The medical examiner informs Brody that the victim's death was due to a shark attack. Brody heads out to close the beaches, but is intercepted and overruled by town Mayor Vaughn (Murray Hamilton), who fears that reports of a shark attack will ruin the summer tourist season which is the town's major source of income. The medical examiner says he was wrong about a shark attack and tells Brody that it was a boating accident. Brody reluctantly goes along with this."

"And our horror movie is The Sixth Sense! TheSixth Sense is a 1999 psychological horror film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. It tells the story of Cole Sear, a troubled, isolated boy (Haley Joel Osment) who claims to be able to see and talk to the dead (with the famous line, _"I see dead people"_), and an equally troubled child psychologist (Bruce Willis) who tries to help him. The film established Shyamalan as a writer and director, and introduced the cinema public to his signatures: his appearance in cameo roles and his affinity for twist endings. The film was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture."

"So, what do you guys want to watch?" Mo asked.

After taking a vote, we were going to watch The Sixth Sense first, The Wedding Crashers second, Jaws third, and The Mask Of Zorro fourth.

"Alright! Mo, can you get that set up, and I'll call the Josh, my butler that I gave the week off, and ask him to run to the store and get candy and popcorn?" I asked, knowing that he wouldn't mind. I'll pay him anyway.

"Yep," she said, popping in the DVD.

After I left to call Josh, and he delivered to stuff, I gave him the money, and got all the popcorn popped. We were finally ready to watch the movie. I handed everybody a bowl of popcorn, and sat down in the only remaining seat. Somehow I ended up sitting right next to Gaara, and Mo right next to Kiba. I figured she set it up that way, and sent her a glair. To bad the glair only made her laugh because of my blush. I pressed 'play' on the remote, and took a sip of Diet Coke. The movie would have been better, had Naruto not interrupted every twenty seconds.

"What was that?" Naruto asked, referring to the movie.

"Why is he in his underwear?" he asked, followed by, "What's his problem?"

"Wasn't he dead?" he asked.

"Where's South Philadelphia?" Naruto interrupted.

"What's Latin?" Naruto asked.

"A dead language, now please be quiet," I whispered.

I turned my attention back to the television, just in time to see Cole whisper, "I was thinking that you're nice. But you can't help me."

My favorite part was coming up, and I smiled, seeing Naruto and Sakura shake. The part was when a mysterious voice whispers through a shaft door.

"Somebody open this door. I can't breath. If you can hear me, open this door," then the voice gets angry, and yells at Cole, "Open this door or I'll break it open and grab you!"

Two boys came by and locked Cole in the shaft, and Cole ends up having to go to the doctor, because of many cuts and burses. Dr. Malcolm Crowe comes in to see Cole, and Cole asks a question.

"Can I tell you a secret now?" when Dr. Malcolm Crowe nods, Cole pauses, before whispering, "I see dead people."

After our movie day, Sunday was pretty boring. Mo went to church, I went outside to get my book that I had dropped off the roof on Friday, and helped everybody learn how to use a computer map. After three hours, they finally got it, so I got out my lap-top and my credit card (yah, my parents gave me one for my birthday last year) and went to Barns & Nobel web-sight. Yah, they were looking up places nearby on an internet map of places that Orochimaru might have gone, and me, I'm buying books online.

"Hmm, already out of books. I was only on here a month ago," I said to myself, searching through the list of books.

"On where a month ago?" came a voice behind me.

I spun around in my seat (I was in the living room, not the family room, upstairs), only to see Gaara.

"Um, the book store," I replied.

"But you're sitting in your home, not at a store," he said confused, walking around the couch to sit next to me.

"I'm at their online store. You can find nearly anything online," I said, showing him the screen.

"Oh. How do you pay for it, if it's on the web?" he really sounded curious.

I handed him my golden credit card.

"With this card. I click on the item I want to buy, click 'put in cart' button, click the 'see cart,' and finally click 'buy.' After that, I type in the numbers on the card, and in a couple of days, my items will be delivered," I explained.

"That's really smart. Who thought of that?"

"Um, some person with no life. He probably got together with the person who invented pi and had a party," I was joking of course, but Gaara didn't get it.

"Pie? Everybody loves pie."

"Not pie as in P-I-E, but pi as in P-I. It's a mathematical number, thought most people just say 3.14," I explained, clinking to put '_Midnight Pleasures' by Amanda Ashley, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Maggie Shayne, Ronda Thompson_into my shopping cart.

Gaara was looking at my list of books I was going to buy as I typed in my information from my card.

"May I ask you a question?" he asked.

"You just did, so ask away," I said, clicking the 'finish' button.

"Why so many books on vampire romance?"

I gave a light laugh. "Because I like reading about vampires, and romance, so a vampire romance works great. I don't know, I just really like to read things that you don't think are real, but could very well be among us," I said.

There was a pause, and then Gaara said, "Like the others and I."

Now I was confused. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, that you never thought we were real, until we showed up on your roof Friday evening," Gaara explained.

Oh, that made sense. "Yah, I guess you're right."

"And you know what?" he asked, turning to completely face me.

"What?"

He whispered, "I'm glad we're now real in your world."

He got up and went back down-stairs, leaving me confused.

'_What the heck is that supposed to mean?!'_ I mentally asked myself, and of course coming up with no answer to the question.

I sighed, and went to get my backpack ready for school tomorrow. As the rest of the day progressed, I kept thinking about what Gaara said. The next morning, after making everybody breakfast, telling them that I had to go to school, and telling them that they'd have to fend-for-themselves at lunch time, I walked to the bus stop. Also known as the end of my driveway. The bus pulled up, and after I got on I took my usual seat next to Mo's. Because we live out in the woods, there are probably only about four other kids that ride our bus.

"Mo, do you think it's safe to leave everybody at my house alone?" I asked in a whisper. Not that it mattered, Mo and I sit in the middle of the bus, and the other kids sit in the back.

"Yah, why?"

"I don't know. Coconut keeps growling at Naruto," I said.

"Hmm, maybe because he smells like fox? You know, because of the fox demon?" she suggested.

"He doesn't growl at Gaara," I pointed out.

Mo smiled evilly at me, "Because he knows you _looove him!"_ she sang.

I blushed, and said, "Well a certain someone and his dog asked if you were coming over today."

Now it was Mo's turn to blush, and as we pulled up to the school, we called it truths. As the rolled on, nothing exciting happened in any of my classes. Until about twenty minuets before the final bell rang out in fourth hour, signaling us we could go home. An office worker walked in, and gave Mrs. Stuart the red slip of paper. Red, meaning 'get your butt down to the office now.'

"Julia L," my choir teacher called, because there are two Julia's in the class.

I stood up, grabbed my folder, and walked to the front. The whole class 'oooed' as walked toward the door.

"Calm down, she's not in trouble," I heard her say to the class.

My shoulders un-tensed, though I don't notice that they were tense to start with. As I reached the office, I showed the lady behind the desk my slip.

"Right through there," she pointed to the principles office.

I nodded, walked over, and knocked on the wooden door.

"Come in," came Principal Robert Anderson's Australian accent.

"Mr. Anderson? I got this note? Did I do something?" I knew the answer was 'no' but that didn't stop me from asking the question anyway.

"No, no, of course not. You must be Julia Latize correct?" he asked, gesturing for me to take a seat.

"Yes," I replied, taking a seat.

"I hope I wasn't pulling you out of a test or anything, was I?" typical principal question.

"No, it's alright. I was in choir," I assured. Then asked, "Mr. Anderson, why did you call me down here?"

Mr. Anderson sighed, making it obvious that he didn't want to say what he had to. My suspicions were confirmed when he said, "Julia, I hate to be the barer of bad news, but there's been an accident."

My hands started to shake, so I put them in my lap.

"What kind of an accident?" I asked, but I was mentally screaming _'No! Don't tell me! I don't want to know!'_

"Your parents' car crashed, they're in the hospital."

"Oh, gosh," I whispered, tears beading in my eyes.

"These things happen all the time. Look, somebody from the hospital is on their way over to bring you there." Mr. Anderson got up and put his hand on my shoulder.

"They'll be fine," he said.

"M-Mr. Anderson? Someone needs to send a note down to Marissa Osen. She was coming over to my house today after school."

"Alright, I'll tell the secretary to send a note," he walked out the office door to tell the secretary.

About five minuets later, Mr. Anderson came back in and told me the person from the hospital was here. When we got outside, there was an ambulance.

"Why and ambulance?" I asked the lady that came from the hospital.

"Well, we had to send a hospital vehicle. The only thing we had was an ambulance," she explained.

I got in the front passenger seat, closed the door, and put my seat-belt on. The lady did the same. When we got to the hospital, she showed me to my parents' room. I took a deep shaky breath, the tears finally flowing, and opened the door. My dad was lying on his bed with that oxygen thing in his nose, invalidation in his arm, and bandages. I didn't see my mom, so I assumed she was in another room.

"D-daddy?" I whispered. Yah, I called him dad in front of other people, and father in front of important people (my dad's a well known layer) such as judges, but by the family, he's my daddy.

"Daddy?" I asked a little louder.

"Jewels?" he asked in a whisper, referring to my nick-name he calls me.

"Oh, daddy!" I ran to him, stopped suddenly, and carefully gave him a hug. "Are you hurt badly?"

"No, I'm fine," he whispered.

"Where's mom?"

"I think they took her to surgery," he answered.

"Oh, gosh, how bad is she?"

"I don't know, but she'll be fine."

I looked around the room, and spotted a chair. I went over, picked up my fathers un-folded clothes in one had, and brought the chair over to his bed-side. I sat down, and started to fold his clothes. I picked up his shirt, and a folded piece was in-between the shirt and pants. It had my name on it. I folded the shirt and pants, put them on the bed-side table, and picked up the note. I unfolded it, and was shocked by what it said, in messy hand-writing.

Julia and Marissa,

Take this as a warning. Stay close to your new friends. Do not show them this note, but watch your backs. And if I were you-and I'm glad I'm not-I wouldn't want to be caught alone. Remember, keep this a secret.

Shh,

Orochimaru

Okay, now my hands were shaking. I folded the letter, and put it in my pocket. I glanced at the clock, it read four thirty. A nurse came in.

"I'm sorry dear, but you're going to have to go home, you father needs his rest. Someone will bring you home now."

I turned to my dad, and gave him a soft hug and kiss on the cheek. "Bye daddy, get better soon."

"I will Jewels, and so will your mom," he said patting my hand.

I gave a weak smile, and left with the nurse. The same lady brought me home, and she disappeared around the corner just as I was reaching the front steps. The door flew open, and everybody came running outside, including Mo.

"Julia! My gosh! What happened?!" she yelled, hugging me, "I got a note from the office saying that somebody took you to the hospital!"

"Are you alright?" Kakashi asked.

"Anything broken?" Iruka asked at the same time.

"I'm not injured. My parents were in a terrible accident. Somebody brought me to see them. They're in the hospital," I said.

Everybody relaxed, and Temari, Sakura, and Hinata gave me a hug.

"They'll be fine, you'll see, Julia," Temari said, giving a warm smile.

"Thanks, Temari. Mo, can I speak to you?"

"Yah, can you guys give us a moment?" she asked the others.

They all nodded, and entered the house. I pulled Mo over to the side, and pulled out the note.

Mo looked at the note, and said, "What's that?"

"I was folding my dad's clothes, and I found this in-between his pants and shirt. It mentions you too," I said.

Mo immediately snatched the note, unfolded it, and started reading.(I'm going to put the note in here again, incase you forgot).

_**Julia and Marissa,**_

_**Take this as a warning. Stay close to your new friends. Do not show them this note, but watch your backs. And if I were you-and I'm glad I'm not-I wouldn't want to be caught alone. Remember, keep this a secret.**_

_**Shh,**_

_**Orochimaru**_

"Oh, my, gosh," Mo said.

I took the note from her hands, and put it back into my pocket. Mo turned to face me.

"What do you think we should do?" I asked her.

Mo shook her head, and said, "We show everybody the note of course."

"It told us not to," I pointed out.

"We still have to tell them; otherwise we're playing right into his hands."

"No," I was confident that we _shouldn't_ tell the others.

"Julia Latize! Why not?!" she wasn't yelling, because there was a good chance that the others were listening to our conversation.

"Because, what if somebody else gets hurt?"

"They can handle themselves."

"I know about them, but what if it was your parents the next time?"

Mo fell silent, and I knew she hadn't thought of that yet. We both took a deep breath, and looked toward the door. Then Mo looked at me.

"I have an idea," she said.

"What is it?" I was curios to know what it was.

"We '_accidentally_' leave the note somewhere."

"That could work!" I exclaimed.

Just then a Kurenai came and went right in between our heads. There was another note attached.

"Ah!" we both screamed. Hey, it took us off guard.

We fell backwards onto the ground, and everybody came running out of the door.

"What happened?!" Iruka asked.

"I'm going to guess the Kurenai stuck into the house," Kakashi came up and pulled it out of the side.

"Julia?"

I looked up to see that Gaara had his hand extended out to me. I smiled weakly, and took his hand. Gaara pulled me up to my feet, and out of my peripheral vision, I saw Kiba doing the same for Mo.

"Are you okay?" Gaara asked me.

"Yah. Thanks," I replied.

"What's the note say?!" Naruto was yelling.

Kakashi ripped off the note, and scanned it. Then he handed it to Iruka, and turned to Mo and me.

"Where's the first note?" he asked.

"What?" Mo and I both asked.

"That note mentioned a first note. A note that you two aren't supposed to let us see. A note that while you, Julia, got at the hospital," Kakashi said.

A shaking hand dug into my pocket, and I pulled out the note. I handed it to Kakashi. He took it, walked over to Iruka, and the two of them read the note.

"My, gosh, Kakashi," Iruka whispered.

"Why would you keep this?" Kakashi accused.

"Kakashi, take it easy. Julia's parents are in the hospital, and it warned them not to show us," Iruka said in Mo's and my defense.

"Well, are you going to tell us what the notes say, or are you just going to let us stay in the dark?" Shika accused.

"Leave you in the dark," Kakashi said.

"_What?!_" Naruto, Kankuro, and Sakura exclaimed.

"We're going to need two people that will stay with these two at all times," Iruka said.

"I'll stay with Mo!" Kiba yelled. Akamaru barked in agreement.

"Alright, Kiba and Akamaru, you do not leave Marissa's side," Kakashi instructed.

"Gaara, why don't you go with Julia?" Temari suggested, and although I missed it, she winked at Gaara.

"Gaara? Would you stay with Julia?" Iruka asked.

Gaara nodded, and I blushed. There was scratching on the window, and we all looked up. Coconut was there on his hind legs, one paw on the window, looking at us all. I smiled.

"Alright, who wants dinner?" I asked, changing the topic.

After dinner, Mo went home with Kiba and Akamaru. Because everybody else had showered during the day, I decided to take one. After I got out, put on my matching green pajama top and pants, Gaara was leaning on the wall outside the door.

The next morning, I woke up with Gaara sitting on the window sill looking at me. It shocked me, so I fell out of my bed. Gaara got off the sill, and helped me up.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"Yah, thanks. What are you doing in my room while I was sleeping?" I asked.

"I'm supposed to stay with you at all times. What if Orochimaru came while you were sleeping?"

He had a good point there. And besides, for some strange reason, I felt better, no, safer, with him there. I didn't know why, but I liked waking up to him being there.

'_I bet Mo likes waking up to Kiba in the morning,'_ I thought.

"So, you want breakfast?" I asked.

"Sure, want any help?" he asked.

"No that's alright. You're my guest, I'll make the meals," I said. I looked down, and said, "But I think I should get dressed first."

Gaara nodded and left the room. I walked into my closet, and my eyes widened. All my clothes were gone!

"What the heck happened to all my clothes?!" I yelled.

Gaara, Temari, Kankuro, Hinata, Naruto, and Sakura came running into my room.

"Um, Julia?" Sakura asked.

"Yah? Have you seen my clothes?" I asked.

"Um, Sakura and I took them all out. We think you need a new wardrobe," Temari said.

"What?! No, I need my clothes. I have school today," I said.

"Um, okay, you can have one pair of clothes back," Temari said, leaving the room.

"But after school today, we're taking you shopping!" Sakura said.

"Heck no! I hate shopping!" I exclaimed.

"Too bad, you're going," Temari said, handing me a pair of my clothes.

"If I'm going down, I'm bringing Mo down with me," I said.

"Yah! We get to give Julia _and_Mo makeovers!" Temari and Sakura both exclaimed, jumping up and down.

"You guys need normal this world clothes to go out in public. Borrow some of my stuff," I suggested.

"But, you don't have anything girly," they both complained.

I smiled, set my clothes down on my bed, walked over to my night-stand, and pulled out a small skeleton key.

"What's that?" Naruto asked.

"A skeleton key. It opens any door in this house," I explained.

I walked back into my closet, and walked all the way back. I yelled back, "Sakura, Temari, are you coming?"

They walked in, and to where I was standing. I pointed to the hidden door in the back of my closet.

"How did we miss that?" Temari asked.

"What's in it?" Sakura asked.

"My parents know some very important people, so I have to have some dress-up clothes for special occasions. This," I pointed to the door, "is where I keep all of those clothes. I think you'll be able to find something in here," I said, sticking to key into the handle hidden behind on of the racks where my clothes used to be.

I pushed to door open, and walked in. Once they followed, I shut the door. I flipped on the light switch, and they gasped. There were dresses, skirts, dress pants, blouses, and other fancy shirts.

"I don't recommend any of the _really_ fancy clothes or dresses, or you'll look odd out in public," I said.

"Alright, I need to go get ready for school, and then I'll make breakfast. Make sure to re-lock this when you're done in here. Just put the key back in my night-stand after," I said, handing Temari the key.

They nodded, still amazed by all the clothes. I didn't get it; all of my fancy clothes were either dark red, dark green, of black. I had some black and white plaid skirts, and some white blouses, but that's it. I shook my head, and slipped out of the second closet. I walked back to my bed, and picked up my clothes.

"Hinata, you can go and pick something out as well, you're coming shopping with us," I said.

"I am?" she asked.

"Yes, you are," I said, then pulling her to the back of the closet, whispered, "and I bet Temari can help you find something that will impress Naruto back there."

Hinata blushed, nodded, and said shyly, "Okay. I'll come with."

I nodded, let her go into the closet, and then went out of my closet. Gaara, Kankuro, and Naruto were still in my room.

"Alright, now that that's settled, I'll go get ready, then make breakfast," I said, walking out of my room and to the bathroom.

Once I was dressed and ready, I made eggs and pancakes. I set all the plates, forks, and syrup out on the table. I poured everybody a glass of apple juice and called them all down. After breakfast, I slipped on my shoes and walked out the door, followed by Gaara.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"I'm supposed to come with you," he said.

"Um, you can't come with me to school. And you wouldn't pass as a transfer, it's the second to last day of school," I pointed out.

Gaara thought for a moment, and then took the cork out of his gourd. Some sand came out, and formed an eye. He handed it to me. I looked at it, afraid to touch it.

"It's not going to hurt, take it, and put it in your pencil case," he said. (It's the only thing we have to bring to school is the pencil case).

I held out my hand, and he placed it in my hand. I was shocked; it was smoother than most sand. Like the sand on a beach that you never want to leave. I put it into my pencil case, and thanked him, before leaving to get onto the bus that was waiting at the end of the driveway. I go on the bus, and took my usual place in the seat next to Mo's seat. I handed her my pencil case.

"What am I supposed to do with it?" she asked.

"Gaara has his sand eye in there. Take a look," I said.

"No way!" Mo opened my case, and looked inside. "That's so cool! Hi Gaara," she said, waving at the eye.

"Mo, you look crazy," I said, laughing.

"So, I am crazy. I'm coming over after school today," she said.

"Good, I'm making you get tortured with me," I said, taking my pencil case back.

"What do you mean by 'tortured'? What happened?" she asked worriedly.

"Temari, and Sakura took all my clothes, and their making us go shopping. Hinata is coming too, she wants to impress Naruto," I said.

"Heck no! I am _not_ going shopping! Our clothes are just fine!"

I agreed with Mo. I looked down at the clothes Temari had given back to me. I had on my black jeans with a black shirt that had a red tree on the front and the words 'Save our Earth' on the back, with red and black striped sleeves. I also had just plain black socks and black tenies on. Mo had on dark green Capri and a brown button-up shirt with brown socks and black tenies.

Once at school, the rest of the day went by normally. Well, except that second hour French 2 that Mo and I had together Kiba and Akamaru popped their heads up by the window. Mo and I signaled for them to get down before anybody else saw them. After forth hour, Mo and I were walking back to the bus, and took our seats. Our friend Trav came and sat in the seat behind Mo. We turned to him, because he always sits in the back with the other guys.

"Hey Trav, what's up?" I asked.

"You two always have an end-of-the-year-party. Who's house is it at this year, and what are we doing?" he asked.

"Oh! Right! Mo?" I asked, just remembering.

"Yah, we were going to have it at the cabin that our parents pitched in and bought us a couple of years ago. It's only a ten minuet drive, and we were going to go in the limos," she explained.

"Alright! I'm invited right?" he asked.

"No duh!" Mo and I both exclaimed, hitting his arm.

"Can I bring anybody?" he asked.

"If we said no you'd bring somebody anyway, so only a few," I said.

"Cool. When is it?" he asked.

"We were thinking the tomorrow," Mo said.

"Alright! Julia, I'll come over to your house after school tomorrow. Need me to bring anything?" he asked.

"Nope, just swimming trunks and a towel," I said.

"Cool, see you tomorrow," he said, getting back up as the bus stopped at his house.

"Bye!" Mo and I both called.

At the next stop, Mo and I got off at my house. Kiba with Akamaru on his head, and Gaara walked over to us. I opened my pencil case up, and gave Gaara his sand eye back.

"Do I even want to know?" Kiba asked.

"Gaara sent his sand eye with me to school because he couldn't pretend to be a transfer," I explained.

Just then Temari and Sakura came running out of the house and up to Mo and I. Hinata came walking out, and shut the door behind her before joining us.

"Julia! Mo! Are you ready for your makeovers?!" Sakura asked.

"No, but do we really have a choice?" I asked.

"I have a choice," Mo chimed in.

"No you don't. Temari went over there while you were at school, and hid your clothes were she hid Julia's," Sakura said.

"What?!" Mo yelled.

"Yep, now let's go!" Temari yelled.

"You all need to change first. Oh, and _everybody_ is coming," I said.

"What? Why?" Kiba asked, turning to Mo.

"Julia and I always throw an end-of-the-year-party. You all need things to wear," she explained.

"Yah! More reasons to shop!" Temari and Sakura both yelled.

I leaned over to Gaara, and whispered, "What happened while I was at school?"

He leaned down, and whispered, "Do you really want to know?"

"Not really, but tell me anyway," I whispered back.

"They found this cupboard that had all this really sugary candy in it, and everybody decided to try some," he whispered.

"Oh, gosh. You mean everybody is on a sugar rush?" I asked, not whispering anymore.

"What about a sugar rush?" Mo and Kiba both asked.

"Everybody found the candy cupboard," I explained.

"Oh, gosh. And we have to go out in public with them?" Mo asked.

I nodded, and Mo sighed. Then she smiled and said, "Have any Advil?"

"What's Advil?" Kiba asked.

"Medicine that's quote 'Advil, your every pain reliever'," I explained, and then turned to Mo and said in an impression of the spokes person, "Are _you_ all Advil?"

Mo and I started laughing, and Kiba and Gaara looked at us like we were crazy. Oh, wait, we are crazy. In the good way though. ^.^ We all walked back into the house, and Mo and I went through my dad's clothes and gave them to the boys. We gave them all jeans. Naruto got an orange shirt, Kakashi gray, Iruka brown with white strips, Sasuke plain black; Kiba a dark blue, Shika got a green one, Kankuro a white, and Gaara a dark red.

Hinata came down in a pair of my black dress pants and a light-robins-blue blouse, along with a pair of my flat slip-on dress shoes. I looked over and saw Naruto looking. I smiled, nudged Mo, and nodded my head in his direction. Sakura came down in a black skirt with black tights, a white blouse with black lace on the top, bottom, and on the sleeve ends, along with one of my pairs of black strappy high-heals that I still can't walk in. I looked around, and noticed that Sasuke was watching her from the corner of his eye.

'_Oh, my, gosh. Sasuke likes Sakura!'_ I screamed in my head.

Finally Temari came down in one of my favorite dress-up outfits. She had on a silver blouse with black lace like on the one Sakura is wearing, a mid-thigh black skirt, black-see-through tights, with my soft-leather-knee-high-boots. Mo nudged me, and nodded her head to the left. I looked over, and Shika was staring at her. Mo and I both smiled, and then she leaned over to me and whispered.

"We have to work on getting people together," she whispered.

"Duh," I whispered back.

I had already called and told Josh that I needed him to give me and some friends to the mall, so he was waiting outside by the limo door. He opened it for us all to get in.

"Thanks Josh," I said.

"Any time, Miss Latize," he replied.

"How many times do I have to tell you to call me Julia?" I asked.

"Always once more," he answered, shutting the door to the limo after we were all in.

Once Josh let us all off at the mall, everybody except Mo, Gaara (who was amazed but didn't show it), Kakashi (who was reading his perverted book), and I stared at the three story building. Mo and I started walking in, followed by everybody else (duh!). Once we were all inside, Mo and I had to look at a map, because we don't come to the mall very often.

"Hmm, we're closest to this beach store," Mo said, pointing it out on the map.

"Yah, you think we should go and get everybody swimsuits first?" I asked.

"Yah, just get it out of the way, besides, we need new ones," Mo said.

I laughed, "Yah, can't go swimming in a suit that doesn't fit. Hmm, then I think we should go Zoomies," I said, pointing out one of my favorite stores just a couple of shops down from the beach shop.

"Okay, then we can find another map, or just walk around till we find something," Mo said.

"Did ya'll hear that?" I asked. Yes, I say ya'll, deal with it.

They all nodded, and Sakura and Temari were shifting from foot to foot with impatience, and Naruto was practically bouncing around off of the sugar rush. (Remember they found the candy?) Once we had gotten there, everybody rushed inside to find something.

"Do you think we should limit them?" I asked.

"Yah," Mo said, then yelled, "Only one swimsuit and cover up everybody! We still need to get everybody, including Julia and I, a new wardrobe!"

"Okay!" they all yelled.

Mo and I went to find ourselves swimsuits. We had been in the store for about five minuets, when Mo came over with a small bag, smiling.

"I found a suit," she said.

"Well, are you going to let me see?" I asked, turning my attention away from the rack and over to Mo.

Mo pulled out a dark blue halter-top swimsuit top with a small white bone in the bottom right hand corner, and then pulled out dark blue board shorts with a small dog-that I thought kind of looked like Akamaru- down on the bottom of the left leg.

"That's so cool!" I exclaimed.

Mo put the top back in the bag, and turned the bottoms around. On the back, across the butt, it said in white letters 'Bite me". I laughed, and Mo joined in.

"Oh my gosh! That's perfect!" I laughed.

"Found anything?" Mo asked once we were done laughing, as she put the bottoms in her bag.

"Yah, I was thinking this one," I said, taking down one of the suits I was looking at.

The suit was a dark forest green bikini, with a red heart on the left of the top. My board shorts still fit, so I could use those as a cover up for the bottoms, and Mo and I didn't care about walking around with just a T-shirt over the top.

"I like it," Mo said, knowing that I would use my board shorts and a T as a cover up just like her.

"Thanks," I said, going to pay for it.

After the lady behind the counter handed me my bag, Mo and I called out to the others.

"Hey, you guys done yet?!" we both yelled.

Everybody came running up with stuff in their hands. Mo and I had already decided that I would pay for the things that Kakashi, Temari, Gaara, Kankuro, Sakura, and Shika got, and she would buy the things for Iruka, Naruto, Hinata, Sasuke, and Kiba. Everybody from my group put their things on the counter, and I handed the lady my golden credit card. The lady smiled, and put everybody's things in separate bags like I asked. She did the same thing when Mo went up there.

"Where next?!" Sakura yelled.

Well, I'm not going to bore you with the _extremely long_ shopping day, so I'll just tell you what everybody got. This is what they got:

Naruto: Orange with black sides swimming trunks with an orange T-shirt as a cover up, some jeans in a variety of shades, some shorts in blue, burnt orange, black, black and white, and gray, and some short leave shirts/ sleeveless in the same colors.

Kakashi: Gray with black sides swimming trunks with a gray T-shirt as a cover up, jeans in dark blue, some shorts in gray, black, blue, and white, and some shirts (short and sleeveless) in the same colors.

Sasuke: Got black swimming trunks with red going up the sides with a black T-shirt as a cover up, near-black jeans and black jeans, some shorts in black, white, red, and blue, short/no sleeve shirts in black, blue, red, and white.

Sakura: Pink bikini with cherries and a pink cover up dress, some tank tops in pink, red, purple, and lime green, jean shorts in the faded blue and regular blue, and some jeans.

Kiba: Blue with white sides swimming trunks with a blue T-shirt as a cover up, blue jeans in faded blue and regular, shorts in blue, white, brown, and black, and some shirts with short/ no sleeves in blue, white, brown, black, and gray.

Shika: Just green swimming trunks with a sky blue T-shirt as a cover up, jeans in just blue, shorts in green, blue, white, and black, and some shirts with short/no sleeves in green, blue, white, and black.

Hinata: A gray one-piece swimsuit with beach shorts and top for a cover up (both in gray also), some Capri in gray, white, and brown, shorts in gray, white, blue, and brown, and some short/no sleeve shirts in gray, blue, and white.

Temari: Plane purple bikini with sparkles and a dark plum cover up dress, the rest is the same as Sakura but all the pink is plum.

Gaara: Black with red sides swimming trunks and a dark red T-shirt as a cover up, jeans in black and dark blue, shorts in red, black, tan, and dark green, and some shirts with short/no sleeves in red, black, tan, and dark green.

Kankuro: Black with purple sides swimming trunks and a dark purple T-shirt as a cover up, jeans in regular and faded, shorts in dark purple, black, blue, and brown, and shirts with short/no sleeves in brown, dark purple, blue, and black.

Iruka: Brown with white sides swimming trunks and a light brown T-shirt as a cover up, jeans in regular and dark, shorts in brown, tan, blue, and white, and shirts with short/no sleeves in brown, tan, white, and blue.

So, when we dropped Mo and Kiba off at their house, Mo already explaining that her parents think she's at my house while they're at the casino, and we were home, all the stuff away, and pajamas on, I finally got to go to bed. Tomorrow was the last day of school, and the day of the party.

The next morning, I did the usual, nothing spectacular that morning. After breakfast, I took my seat next to Mo's on the bus. She was smiling widely at me.

"What?" I asked, confused.

"Today's the party! Duh!" she yelled.

"Right! I forgot about that! The usual announcements?" I asked.

"You know it!" Mo exclaimed.

So, during first hour government, I went up to Miss-who is really a Mrs.- Kawer, and asked if I could make an announcement.

"Sure, Julia, go ahead. Hey, listed up! Julia's got an announcement!" she yelled.

The class fell silent, and looked my way.

"Thanks," I whispered to Miss Kawer. Then I said more loudly to the class, "The end-of-the-year-party that Marissa Osen and I hold is tonight from five thirty till midnight. You can have your parents drop you off at one of our houses, and we'll provide the transportation to where the party is. This is my address, and this is Marissa's address," I said, writing it down on the whiteboard. Then I said, "Anybody may come, but please try to keep the amount of people you bring to only two at the most. Thank you."

It was silent for a moment, and then somebody yelled, "Woo! _Paaaaaaarrrrrrrrrtyyyyyyyyy_!"

Second hour French, that Mo and I have together; we stood on two chairs, and yelled over the obnoxiously loud class, "Faites taire la pépite de caramel maintenant chacun! C'est important! (Shut the fudge-nugget up now everybody! This is important!)"

The whole class fell silent, and looked up at us.

"Mo and I are having an end-of-the-year-party, so if you want to come, it's at five thirty. Come to either my house of Mo's house. Our addresses are on the board," I said, pointing.

"Oh, and we're going to be having a new band. Their called Polar Opposite. You should come check them out!" Mo added.

After we gave out the rest of the information, like a swimming suit, ext., I pulled Mo over to the side.

"Are you crazy?" I whispered.

"What?" she asked.

"Why would you tell them that we're going to be playing at the party?"

"I thought it would be a good time to let people know how great we are," she explained.

I shook my head no, and whispered, "No, how are we going to get away from Kiba and Gaara? They were assigned to watch us at all times."

"We'll tell them we have to go to the bathroom," she said.

I sighed, "Fine. The instruments and clothes are in the basement still right?" I asked.

"They should be."

After telling my third hour English, and fourth hour choir, Mo and I headed toward the bus. On the bus, Trav sat behind Mo again.

"So, whose house should I show up at?" he asked.

Mo answered right away.

"Mine, Julia has people staying at her house this week, so they'll be riding with her."

"Alright!" Trav exclaimed. Then he said, "Um, where's your house again?"

If Mo and I could have done an anime fall, we would have. He comes over to one of our houses all the time to copy our homework. Not that we let him, but we do help him with it.

"Travis! How do you not know where my house is?!" Mo scolded.

Trav shrunk back in his seat, and shrugged.

"I don't know."

Mo and I sighed, "Travis Daulgran."

I shook my finger at him playfully, and said, "What are we going to do with you?"

Trav smiled and said, "Don't know."

Mo playfully punched him in the shoulder, and said, "Your parents should have the address."

"Oh, right! I knew that," he said, looking out the window.

I shook my head, and got off the bus when it stopped at my house. Right away, Gaara was standing at the gates. I smiled as I walked up to him, and I thought that I saw a small smile tugging at his lips as well.

"Hey, Gaara! You guys have any more luck figuring out where Orochimaru is?" I asked.

Gaara looked hesitant to say something. I looked at him, waiting for him to tell me.

When he didn't, I said, "I have the right to know. I can't help you catch him if I don't know anything."

Gaara sighed, and said, "Come on, I'll show you."

We walked inside, and everybody was crowded in the living room. They all looked up at me, and I gave them a questioning look.

Gaara nodded, and said, "Show her."

Kakashi got up, and handed me the newspaper. I looked at the front, and the article said the following:

Man Found Mysteriously Dead

Article by J Fiece

A man, 28, was found dead yesterday morning at around 8 A.M. outside in an alley by the court house. Officers are assuming that he worked there, though his identity has not been identified. Doctors and scientists have yet to find the cause of death. They originally thought that the man had died of ink poisoning, due to the strange markings resembling a tattoo on the back left side of the man's neck. The hunch was flattened when they did not find any ink in the man's system. Nor, they found, was the 'tattoo' containing any ink. More details will be released on this subject when more information is available.

I put the article down on the little coffee table, and looked at the others. Finally, I was able to utter a single sentence.

"Oh, my, gosh."

Kakashi nodded, and Iruka stood. He stretched, and looked at everybody's exhausted faces.

"Alright, you've all worked really hard today. How about we have some fun?" Iruka said.

Everybody shot up from their sitting positions on the floor, and yelled, "Yah!" except for Naruto who yelled, "Yah! Believe it!"

Then I remembered that we had to get ready for the party. I looked at the clock, and it read four o'clock P.M.

"Oh my gosh! I have to call Josh!"

I said, running and grabbing the phone. I called Josh, and spoke quickly into the phone.

"Josh! You have to come pick us up! We have get ready for the party!"

Josh started to laugh on the other end of the line. This only confused me. That is, until he said.

"Don't worry Miss Latize. My friends helped me set everything up at the cabin while you and Miss Osen were at school. Oh by the way, how was your last day?"

I was in complete shock. Josh always goes above the expectations of a butler. Although being a butler at the age of eighteen is also surprising. He had told me once before that he just likes to serve people.

"Thank you so much, Josh! You never seize to amaze me! Oh, and my last day was great!" I almost screamed into the phone.

Josh laughed into the phone again.

"Any time Miss Latize," he said.

"I've told you, call me Julia," I told him.

"I know, just like I know that it bugs you when I call you Miss Latize, Miss Latize."

I growled, only making Josh laugh again.

"Will four limos be enough?" he asked.

"Yah, four is enough. Thanks again Josh," I said.

After I hung up, I ran back into the living room to see the others staring at the door. I raised an eyebrow at them.

"Um, why are you staring at the door? Never mind, go get your swimsuits on. There are towels at the cabin," I said.

I left the room, and went up to my bedroom, grabbed my new suit, black board-shorts with 'Billabong' in green in the left leg, and a dark green tank-top. I changed in the bathroom. When I got out, Iruka, Kakashi, Gaara, Naruto, and Hinata were already done. I looked at the clock; it read five twenty-five.

"Come on Temari, Sakura, Shika, Sasuke, Kankuro! People are going to be showing up! You don't want to be changing when people get here do you?" I called to the closed doors.

Sasuke, Shika, and Temari came out. About a minuet later, Sakura and Kankuro came out. We all headed down the stairs, and out the front door. Once outside, I grabbed the spare key under the mat, and locked the door. I put it into the pocket on my board-shots. I turned around, and there were a bunch of people already there! Just then, the four limos pulled up my driveway. Everybody started to scream and jump around. There were three white limos, and one black one. Josh got out of the black one, and some of his friends got out of the white ones.

"Julia, grab fifteen friends and hop in!" Josh called.

"Alright! Gaara, Temari, Hinata, Kakashi, Shika, Iruka, Hinata, Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, Kankuro, and you four random people! Into the black limo!" I said.

We all piled in, and I sat between Gaara and Temari. I smiled wide.

"How about some music?" Josh called back.

"Heck yah!" I called with the four random people, Temari, Kankuro, Naruto, Sakura, and Kankuro. Everybody else stayed quiet.

Lil' Wayne with Got Money came blasting over the speakers. As we pulled up to the cabin five minuets later, Mo's four limos were already there, unloading people. Josh opened the limo door when we pulled up. We all climbed out, thanked Josh, and ran over to Mo-who was frantically waving her arms around in the air while jumping. Kiba was behind her doing the same thing.

"Guess what?!" Mo yelled, even though I was standing right next to her.

"Let me guess! I'm now def?!" I yelled back.

"No! Well, maybe, but that's not the point! I got Rascal Flats to play for our party!"

Mo and I did something that you rarely ever see or hear us do. We pulled-what we call-a teenage girl moment. We squealed and started to jump around excitedly. Everybody gave us a look like we were crazy. Except Sakura, who looked at us for the first time like we were normal.

"No! Fudging! Way! You got Rascal Flats!" I screamed.

When we settled down, we looked around. Everybody was already in the back of the cabin where the pool was.

"Come on!" Mo yelled as we all ran to the back.

Everybody was either in the pool or mingling with the other guests. There were about five guys trying to figure out how to work our high-tec. stereo. I laughed, walked over, took a CD from the boy with red hair, and plopped it in while hitting the play button. The Black Eyed Peas with Pump It came over the speakers all over the area. I turned around, and Gaara was standing there. He startled me, so I gave a small squeal and fell backwards. Before I hit, Gaara grabbed my elbow in his hand and held me up. I think they invented a new color, that's how bad I was blushing.

Once I was standing upright again, I said, "Thanks. You scared me there. I didn't know you were behind me."

"Sorry," he apologized, and then he said, "It is my job to stay with you. Remember?"

"Oh, yah," I said, the memory of my parents in the hospital coming back. I can't believe that I haven't thought of my parents since I found out about that. I felt ashamed, and guilty. After all, I forgot about my parents.

"Don't feel guilty," Gaara told me.

"I'm not," I lied.

"Your eyes say differently," he stated, then looked at the stereo as Katy Perry I Kissed a Girl came on. A bunch of the girls screamed, and some boys yelled 'yah'.

"Come on, let's go dance!" I said, grabbing his hand, and pulling him over to where bunches of the people were dancing.

When we got there, he just stood there. I smiled up at him, and he just looked down at me. I started dancing, and he still just stood there.

"You're supposed to dance too, Gaara," I pointed out.

Gaara shook his head, and said, "I don't dance."

"Please?"

"No."

"Pretty please?" I asked, cupping my hands together and giving him the puppy dog face.

Gaara looked like he was struggling with himself, and then he said, "Will you just shut up?"

This shocked me. My hands dropped, and I knew that I had a sad and hurt look on my face. Gaara must have seen, because he quickly explained.

"No, no, not you! I was talking to Shukaku! He was being annoying."

I cheered up at once knowing that he wasn't yelling at me to shut up.

"So, will you dance with me?" I asked once again.

"The answer is still no," he replied.

I pouted, and then saw Mo and Kiba. They looked like they were having an awkward moment.

'_I should probably go and stop the awkwardness,'_ I thought.

"Come on, Gaara. Mo and Kiba look like something awkward just happened," I said, pulling him over to the two of them.

Just as we reached them, everybody screamed, "Oh, my gosh! It's Rascal Flats!"

They walked up onto the stage-the one that Mo and I use back here to practice singing and playing instruments. They quickly got all set up, and Gary LeVox took the microphone.

"Thank you to Marissa and Julia, for allowing us to be here to night! This is Me and My Gang! Enjoy!"

"Who's all out on the dance floor?" Mo asked.

"Don't know, lets see," I said, looking around. "Temari is dancing with Shika. Um, look! Naruto is dragging a blushing Hinata to the dance floor! We really have to get those two together."

"Yah, we do. Oh, my, gosh. Travis is dancing with Sakura!" Mo yelled.

"No fudging way! Where?" I asked.

"There," she said, pointing toward the middle of the dance floor.

"You're never going to let him live that down are you?" I asked, smiling.

"Nope! You?"

"Never," I replied.

About an hour and a half later, Mo and I walked up to the stage, where Rascal Flats was just finishing the song Cool Thing.

"Gary, we're going to get the new band Polar Opposites. They'll only sing two songs, so you guys can take a break," I said.

"Alright, thanks. Hey you guys, Marissa and Julia are going to go get another band so we can take a break! We'll sing one more song, so they have time to go get them!"

The crowd cheered, and Mo and I ran toward the house. That's when we noticed that Kiba and Gaara were following us.

"No, you guys stay out there. Enjoy, we'll be back," Mo said, as she pushed them both back out the door.

Once they were outside, Mo and I ran to where the small room that held three dressing stalls was.

"Alright, was my outfit in the left or the right? I know it wasn't in the middle," Mo asked.

"Yours is in the right, mines in the left," I said, walking into the stall.

"Right! I knew that! I was just testing you," Mo said.

"Uh-huh, sure, Mo, sure."

After we came out, Mo had on a long white wig with the front black. Neither of us like dresses, but these was just so cool. She had on a white and black dress (I'll show you in the results). I looked the exact opposite of her. We put on flat leather boots-because neither of us can walk in heals. ^.^

"Alright, let's do this," she said.

We put on the black and white masks, and walked out of the house.

Once outside, Gaara and Kiba were leaning on the house by the door. They immediately looked over to us, looked away once they thought that it wasn't Mo and I, and then quickly looked back at us. Kiba and Gaara straightened their backs, and looked at us more closely.

"Mo?" Kiba asked, looking at her.

Mo shook her head, and thanks to the voice alternators built into the mask, she would sound completely different when she spoke.

"Nope, sorry sugar. Names Crystal," she said, the alternator giving her a Russian accent.

Her fake accent must have shocked Kiba, because he looked puzzled. Then realization was clear as day on his face.

"Oh, you guys must be Polar Opposites. Mo and Julia went to get you, right?" he asked.

"Yep. Now we really should be gettin' on stage," she said, as we both started to walk toward the stage.

"Then where are they now?" Gaara asked.

I turned my head back, and said in my fake Romanian accent, "They said they had to go to the bathroom and wash their faces, and that you should just stay enjoy yourselves while they're in there."

"Now we really have to get on stage," Mo said.

Once on stage, Rascal Flats was stepping down. Mo put on her black guitar with the white strap, and put on her white head-piece-microphone-thingy. I put on my black one (they had to match the color of our hair so it would stick out less), and turned it on.

"Alright, we're Polar Opposites. This is Crystal, and I'm Solar. And tonight, I'll be singing Crushcrushcrush and Crystal will be singing If I Were a Boy!"

Mo started playing the guitar, and the drummer started playing as well. I tapped my hand on my thigh, to get the beat in my head.

"I got a lot to say to you  
Yeah, I got a lot to say  
I noticed your eyes are always glued to me  
Keeping them here  
And it makes no sense at all

They taped over your mouth  
Scribbled out the truth with their lies  
You little spies  
They taped over your mouth  
Scribbled out the truth with their lies  
You little spies

Crush  
Crush  
Crush  
Crush, crush  
(Two, three, four!)

Nothing compares to a quiet evening alone  
Just the one-two of us, who's counting on  
That never happens  
I guess I'm dreaming again  
Let's be more than this

If you want to play it like a game  
Well, come on, come on, let's play  
Cause I'd rather waste my life pretending  
Than have to forget you for one whole minute

They taped over your mouth  
Scribbled out the truth with their lies  
You little spies  
They taped over your mouth  
Scribbled out the truth with their lies  
You little spies

Crush  
Crush  
Crush  
Crush, crush  
(Two, three, four!)

Nothing compares to a quiet evening alone  
Just the one-two of us, who's counting on  
That never happens  
I guess I'm dreaming again  
Let's be more than this now

Rock and roll, baby  
Don't you know that we're all alone now?  
I need something to sing about  
Rock and roll, hey  
Don't you know, baby, we're all alone now?  
I need something to sing about  
Rock and roll, hey  
Don't you know, baby, we're all alone now?  
Give me something to sing about

Nothing compares to a quiet evening alone  
Just the one-two of us, who's counting on  
That never happens  
I guess I'm dreaming again  
Let's be more than  
No, oh

Nothing compares to a quiet evening alone  
Just the one-two of us, who's counting on  
That never happens  
I guess I'm dreaming again  
Let's be more than  
More than this  
Ohoh ohoh ohoh  
Oooh.."

The crowd cheered, and I bowed, then Mo came closer to the front, and I took a few steps back. The next song started, and I knew that Mo was going to rock.

"If I were a boy  
Even just for a day  
I'd roll outta bed in the morning  
And throw on what I wanted then go  
Drink beer with the guys  
And chase after girls  
I'd kick it with who I wated  
And I'd never get confronted for it.  
Cause they'd stick up for me.

[Chorus]  
If I were a boy  
I think I could understand  
How it feels to love a girl  
I swear I'd be a better man.  
I'd listen to her  
Cause I know how it hurts  
When you lose the one you wanted  
Cause he's taken you for granted  
And everything you had got destroyed

If I were a boy  
I could turn off my phone  
Tell evveryone it's broken  
So they'd think that I was sleepin' alone  
I'd put myself first  
And make the rules as I go  
Cause I know that she'd be faithful  
Waitin' for me to come home (to come home)

(Chorus)

It's a little too late for you to come back  
Say its just a mistake  
Think I'd forgive you like that  
If you thought I would wait for you  
You thought wrong

(Chorus)

But you're just a boy  
You don't understand  
Yeah you don't understand  
How it feels to love a girl someday  
You wish you were a better man  
You don't listen to her  
You don't care how it hurts  
Until you lose the one you wanted  
Cause you've taken her for granted  
And everything you have got destroyed  
But you're just a boy"

The crowd cheered again, and Mo took a bow. Rascal Flats came back on stage, and we quickly got off. We headed back toward the house, and Kiba and Gaara were still standing there. We entered the house before they could say anything, and back to the changing stalls. Once back in our swimming suits, we went outside. Kiba and Gaara were immediately at our sides.

"Where were you? You missed the whole thing. Any longer, and we were going to go in and get you," Kiba said to Mo.

"Um, in the bathroom washing our faces," she replied.

'_Okay, change of subject,'_ I thought.

"How'd you guys like Polar Opposites?" I asked.

"They were very good," Gaara said.

Just then a slow song came on. I smiled, and started to push Mo and Kiba onto the dance floor. They were both blushing like crazy.

"You guys dance! Have some fun!" I said.

After I got them onto the dance floor and dancing, I quickly scrambled out of there before Mo could strangle me to death. She'll thank me later. Much later, like after she kills me and attends my funeral. I went back to stand by Gaara. Temari came bouncing over to us, Shika following lazily behind her.

"Hey you two, why don't you go dance?" she suggested.

"I don't dance," Gaara replied.

Temari grabbed my hand and Gaara's, and pulled us onto the dance floor. She drug us to the center, and made me put my hands on his shoulders. I was beet red, and that new color that I invented the other day reappeared on my cheeks. She put his hands on my waist-like I had made Kiba do to Mo-and my face darkened.

"There, now dance. I have to go make Sasuke and Naruto to ask Sakura and Hinata to dance. Have fun," she said, bolting off like I had to Mo.

'_Stupid karma,'_ I thought.

Nothing exciting happened after that. I danced with Gaara; we went swimming, and drank soda. After the party, we got Josh to drive us home. Coconut greeted us when we entered the door.

"Hi, baby. How yah doin'?" I asked, picking him up.

Okay, so it's been about two weeks after the party. My parents went on _another_business trip, not even bothering to worry about what happened last time. Mo's parents took a second honey moon for their anniversary over in Paris, France. So, Mo, Rusti (Mo's dog), Kiba, and Akamaru are back to staying with me and everybody else. We're getting closer to finding Orochimaru. There have been a few more attacks, and everybody has been working in overdrive. Right now, we were all gathered around my kitchen table, putting all the pieces together.

"Alright," Mo started, looking at all the newspapers in front of her, "so Orochimaru's attacks have been about every eleven days. He hasn't sent any more notes, which is a good thing. Now all we have to do is find out where he's been staying."

"I still think he's staying at that one creep's house!" Naruto yelled.

"Naruto, how would Orochimaru even know who Michael Jackson is?" I asked.

"I don't know! How did he even find out how to get here?" he asked.

"How did you guys get here?" Mo asked.

"As much as you girls make a point, Kakashi and I think we know where he's been staying," Iruka said.

"Where?" everybody asked at the same time.

"Well, when we found his layer, there were pictures everywhere. Though we don't know how it is, maybe you girls do. It looks like a picture from this world," Kakashi explained.

Kakashi and Iruka both took a picture out of their vests, and each handed them to us. Okay, now this was freaky!

"That's Michael Jackson! Ewwww!" Mo and I both exclaimed, throwing the pictures on the table like they were going to explode.

"Ah-hah! I knew it! Believe it! Now let's go kick some butt!" Naruto yelled, jumping out of his seat.

"Now hold up, you can't just go jumping into situations," Kiba said.

"And why not?! We know where he is, so let's go get him!"

"_We_ don't know where this guy even lives! Mo and Julia know where he lives, and there is _no way_they are coming with us," Kiba protested.

Naruto sat back down with a 'humph' looking out the window. Iruka looked at the clock above the stove, and sighed. It read four o'clock P.M.

"We've been at this for seven hours. Why don't you all go have fun? We know where he's staying, and how often he attacks. We can decide when and how we are going to get him later," Iruka said.

We all got up and stretched. I looked out the window. It was nice out.

"Anybody want to go to the park?" Mo and I asked. She was obviously thinking the same thing as me.

"Yah, the park!" Kiba yelled. Akamaru barked, as if to say the same thing.

"Shika and I will come," Temari said.

"We will?" Shikamaru asked, looking at Temari.

"Yes, we will. Gaara?" she asked, though she was looking at me for some odd reason.

"I'll come," Gaara replied.

So, Mo, Kiba, Akamaru, Temari, Shikamaru, Gaara, and I all set out for the park. It was only a ten minuet walk, so we were there in no time. There were some little kids with their parents playing on the jungle-gym.

"Julia!" an all-too-familiar voice yelled from behind me.

I flinched on the inside, not wanting to be rude if somebody saw. I put on a fake smile, and turned around. I was pulled into a hug by a kid in my grade. He was shorter than me, and his name was Tay. I try to make it obvious that I don't like him, but he just doesn't get it.

"Hey, Tay, can you let go?" I asked, keeping my arms by my side.

He let me go. Though I didn't see it, Temari's eyes were wide, Gaara was giving Tay a death glair, Shika wasn't paying attention-looking at the clouds, Kiba and Akamaru were confused, and Mo was trying not to laugh. Mo knew about my little _stalker_ problem.

"Oh my gosh Julia! I thought I would die if I didn't see you soon! I haven't seen you sense the last day of school!" Tay yelled.

"I know. Um, Tay, I have something I have to do," I said, trying to get out of the situation.

"No! I don't know when I'll see you again! I love you!" he yelled, hugging me again.

"Tay let go. I have to go."

"No!"

"No, Tay, I mean I have to _go_!"

"Oh! I'll wait right here for you to get back!" he yelled releasing me.

I bolted for the flower shop across the street, knowing Mo would follow.

_***Gaara's P. O. V.***_

Okay, I was going to kill this kid. Where did he get off hugging Julia like that? I was still giving this kid-Tay-a death glair after Julia ran to the flower shop across the street. The kid was staring at the flower shop dream like. It pissed me off.

"Temari, Kiba, Akamaru, Shika, you guys go do something. I'll be there in a minuet," Mo said to the others.

Once they left, Mo touched my arm, making me look at her. She whispered so the kid couldn't hear her.

"Tay stalks Julia. She really hates it, but he won't leave her alone. She doesn't want to hurt his feelings because he has suicidal-depression issues, and she doesn't want to be the one to cause him to kill himself. She wouldn't be able to handle the guilt. Just thought that I'd tell you she doesn't like him _at all_. The bathroom thing was just an excuse to get away from him."

Then she left, running over to the flower shop. Probably to talk to Julia. It made me feel better, knowing that Julia didn't like this kid. Though he probably was the same age as Julia. I didn't know why it made me feel better, but it did.

'_Julia may not be able to live with herself if she caused this kid to kill himself, but I can. Heck, to be honest, I could kill the kid and feel fine.'_ I thought. (writer: okay, _[words]_means that Shukaku is talking to Gaara. _"words" means that Gaara is talking back to him._)

_[Just kill him. Nobody would know.]_

"_How would nobody not know?! It's a public place, and a dead body doesn't go unnoticed!"_ I thought back to the stupid raccoon.

_[Fine, but don't blame me if this kid gets your girl.]_

"_Julia's not my girl, just a good friend."_

_[Sure. Then why do you constantly look at her. You get weird feelings in your stomach when she smiles, and you blush every once and a while. You were death glairing this kid that hugged her!]_

He was right. I think I might like Julia as more than just a friend.

"Hey, are you alright?" Tay asked me.

I death glared him again. He glared back. He was so much shorter than me. Heck, Julia was a few inches shorter than me, and this kid was a few inches shorter than her!

"Okay, so I don't care if you're alright, I just wanted your attention," Tay said. "Who are you and what were you doing with my Julia?"

'_His Julia? Julia doesn't belong to anybody,' _I thought angrily.

"Last time I checked, Julia wasn't an item you could buy at a store." I said.

"Well, check again. Someday Julia and I will get married."

Okay, that _really_ pissed me off. I stood directly in front of the kid.

"Sorry, but that might be kind of hard, considering that Julia doesn't even like you."

"You still didn't tell me your name."

"Gaara. I suggest you leave her alone."

"Well, you don't know Julia as well as I do," he challenged.

"Yah, what's her last name?" I asked.

"Um, that's not important; someday she will have my last name."

I growled. "Favorite color?"

"That's not important either. I bet you can't answer your own questions."

"Latize and dark green," I spat. "How do you know her?"

"I go to school with her. And how do _you _know her?" he asked smiling.

I smirked; this was going to be fun to answer. That smile was going to fall right off his face.

"I live with her," I said simply.

His mouth dropped open, and I stepped away from him. Julia and Mo were just coming out of the flower shop.

_***Julia's P. O. V.***_

I reached Gaara and Tay. Gaara was smirking, and Tay looked like he was trying to catch a whale in his mouth. Yah, it was open that big. I went and stood next to Gaara, who smiled even bigger. It was like he had won a contest or something. Did I miss something while I was hiding in the flower shop with Mo?

"Is he going to be okay?" I whispered to Gaara.

He leaned down and whispered, "I think I solved your stalker problem. He kept asking me a bunch of questions, so I answered them. He asked how I knew you, and I said-"

Tay cut him off, "He doesn't really live with you does he?!"

I smiled on the inside. Mo had told me that she told Gaara about Tay stalking me. Now I know that Gaara solved that problem, and used the truth.

"Yah, he's living with me. Along with his two siblings and eight of his friends, and one of them has a dog. That's him over there *I pointed to Kiba*. Then Mo is staying with me and her dog Rusti," I replied.

"How do you have enough room?" he asked, bewildered.

"Um, Sakura, Temari-Gaara's sister-and Hinata stay in one room. Kakashi, Naruto, and Sasuke stay in another. Iruka and Shikamaru in one. Kankuro-Gaara's brother-, Kiba, and Akamaru-his dog-stay in the last one," I said.

"Where does _he_sleep?" Tay asked, spitting out the word 'he' as if it were a curse. I knew he meant Gaara.

"Mo and her dog Rusti take the bed that's attached to mine and Gaara sleeps in my room with us."

Tay's mouth dropped again. He asked shocked, "And your parents are there too right?!"

"No, they're on a business trip," Gaara answered for me.

Tay just stared at me in shock. What was wrong with him? Considering the circumstances, this situation was _almost_normal. Then it hit me. Tay didn't know the situation!

'_This must sound a whole lot worse to someone looking at the situation from outside, than it really is,'_ I thought to myself.

Mo had just gone to join Kiba and Akamaru running around in the open field. Temari and Shika were talking while lying down in the grass. This situation was getting really awkward.

_***Mo's P. O. V.***_** There's a first for everything!**

'_Alright, this is the perfect time! I almost feel bad, but she'll thank me later! Besides, it will get rid of Tay,'_ I thought, smiling to myself. _'Better get Temari to do it though. Make it more believable.'_

"Kiba, I'll be right back. I have to talk to Temari for a second," I said to Kiba.

"Alright, hurry back!" Kiba replied.

I ran over to Temari, who was talking with Shika while watching the clouds. When I reached her, I asked if I could speak with her. She agreed, and we walked a little ways from Shika.

"What did you need, Mo?" Temari asked me.

I whispered my plan into her ear; she beamed, and agreed to help me with my plan.

"I was just thinking of a way to get those two alone, but that annoying kid had to rune everything," Temari commented.

"Yah, Tay's Julia's stalker. Really annoying," I replied.

"On the bright side," she started, smirking, "I think he made Gaara jealous when he hugged Julia."

My eyes widened, and I gasped, "No way! Really?!"

Temari nodded, "Yah, he had a look on his face that I haven't seen in a long time."

"What look is that?" I asked, curious.

Temari laughed, "He looked like he was about to kill the kid."

I laughed too, knowing that Gaara wasn't like that anymore. "Alright, let's put this plan into action!"

"Right, I'll get going," Temari said, running over to Gaara, Julia, and Tay.

_***Julia's P. O. V.***_

Just then I saw Temari running over to us.

'_Thank you Temari!'_ I was screaming in my head.

When she reached us, she was beaming.

"Gaara, I need you and Julia to do something for me," she said.

'_Thank you, thank you, thank you! I don't care what it is; just get me out of this situation!'_ I was screaming in my head.

"What do you need, Temari?" I asked, a little too fast.

"Come on, I'll show you," she said. She turned to Tay, "I need them, they'll be gone, and then when they get back we have to go home."

"No! Julia, don't go with him! I love you!" Tay was yelling.

"Sorry, Tay, but Temari needs us. You better get going home, Tay," I said.

"I'll see you later, Julia!" Tay yelled, as Gaara, Temari, and I all got out of there.

"What did you need?" Gaara asked Temari.

"Just to get you away from that creepy kid," she said.

I gave Temari a huge hug, yelling, "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

Temari just laughed, and said, "You guys should go take a walk in the woods, just so it looks like I sent you to do something for me."

A small blush came to my face as she pushed me and Gaara toward the woods that are at the back of the park. Temari bent down to whisper in my ear so Gaara wouldn't hear. She only whispered on thing, but I knew what she meant.

"Mo," she whispered.

'_Oh, Mo is _so_ dead,'_ I thought. _'Then I'll thank her.'_

Once she had pushed both Gaara and me into the woods, she took off _really_fast. I looked up at Gaara, and saw him looking down at me.

"Come on, we're here, so we might as well take that walk," Gaara suggested.

"Yah, let's go."

We started walking, and there was a silence. Though it wasn't an awkward one, it was nice. I was looking around at how beautiful these woods were. There was no path, but the ground was mostly even.

"It's beautiful," I said, in a daze like state.

"You are," Gaara whispered, though I missed what he said.

"Hmm? I missed what you said, it was too quiet," I replied, looking up at his face, not seeing the faint blush that was on his cheeks.

"Um, I, uh, said, um, 'You are'," Gaara replied.

I was shocked. _'Did he just call me beautiful? Say something stupid!'_

I giggled and shook my head, mumbling, "No I'm not, no where near it."

_***Gaara's P. O. V.***_ **Okay, back to when we had just started to walk in the woods!**

_[Stop staring at her! You look like an idiot!]_Shukaku was yelling in my head.

"_Shut up! I can't help it!"_ I yelled back.

Shukaku groaned in my head, _[Gosh dam*t! You're just as bad as when she's sleeping!]_

Okay, now a blush was coming to my face, and I knew it. I couldn't help it; she was so peaceful in her sleep. She looked so content, like there was no stress when she was dreaming. I had caught myself wondering while I watched her sleep what she was dreaming about. She brought me back to reality when she spoke.

"It's beautiful," she whispered, as if she were dazed.

I couldn't stop what came out of my mouth next, it just slipped, "You are," I whispered, though it was so low, that part of me hoped she missed it while the other part wished she caught it.

"Hmm? I missed what you said, it was too quiet," she said, looking up at me.

_[Just tell her, trust me. Girls never fall for the 'um, it is' crap or the 'nothing' crap. Just tell her, trust me on this one.]_Shukaku urged.

For once, I listed to him. Now how to say it without sounding like an idiot?

"Um, I, uh, said, um, 'You are'," I stumbled. _Okay, so much for not sounding stupid._

I waited, then she giggled and mumbled, "No I'm not, no where near it."

'_Did she seriously just say that? How can she not see it? I have not seen a girl as pretty as her. Come to think of it, I've never met a girl as funny, charming, entertaining, and she makes me feel happy. It has been a while sense I have gone a whole day without feeling guilty about my past, and here I've gone weeks without even thinking about it. How does she not see it?'_ I thought angrily.

Without thinking, as if on instinct, I grabbed her shoulders and pushed her against the nearest tree. I lowered my head, so it was directly next to her ear. My stomach did a flip when I spoke, for my lips had brushed against her ear slightly.

_***Julia's P. O. V.***_**Okay, so this is right before Gaara started to think to himself!**

I looked up at Gaara, and he looked like he was yelling at himself. It was a few minuets before Gaara looked the same again. Out of nowhere, Gaara grabbed my shoulders, and pushed me against a tree. I was shocked; I did not see that coming. He lowered his head, so it was next to my ear. I could feel my face burning up just by being so close. When he spoke, his lips just brushed my ear, sending a shiver of pleasure down my spine.

"You want to know what I think?" he whispered huskily.

I nodded my head slightly, and barely whispered, "Yes."

Without warning again, his lips came crashing down on mine. His lips were so soft, so gentle. Without thinking, my arms went to link behind his neck, and my head tilted to one side, intensifying the kiss. Gaara let go of my shoulders, and put them-as if unsure-on my waist. The world could have ended, and I would have missed it. Air was important, and Gaara must have been thinking the same thing, because he soon pulled away.

'_My first kiss, and it was perfect,'_ I thought, happily to myself.

Gaara looked down at me, waiting for my reaction. I smiled up at him, and gave him a hug. I laid my head on his chest, and listened to his heart beat. Gaara wrapped his arms around me too, and we stayed like that for a moment. Them I noticed something.

'_Is his heart beating harder than mine? Wait, they're in sink with each other,'_ I thought happily listening to his heart going _thwack, thwack, thwack_ as mine went _thump, thump, thump_.

This is going to sound weird, but it sounded…nice, knowing that our hearts beat to the same rhythm. I turned my head so I was looking up at Gaara, the smile still on my lips. Gaara was smiling down at me. I'm not talking about the twitching of one side of his lips that I usually see, but a real, wide, happy smile.

"Our heart beats match," I whispered.

Gaara tightened his hold on me, and he kissed my forehead. Then we heard a voice. A voice that I _really_ didn't want to hear at this moment. Well…not ever really, but it can't be helped.

"Julia," Tay's voice was heard calling.

'_D*mn it, Tay! This is not the time for this!'_ I thought angrily. What I said was, "Let's start walking that way." I pointed to the opposite direction that Tay's voice was heard coming from.

Gaara nodded and said, "Come on."

We started to walk the way I had pointed. We walked for about three minuets, and I thought Tay's voice was getting closer. My thoughts were confirmed when Gaara spoke.

"He's getting closer. Here, we'll just sit at the top of one of these trees."

"Okay," I said, walking over a tree that looked like it would be easy to climb.

"What are you doing?" Gaara asked, and I knew that he was right behind me.

"I'm about to climb this tree," I replied, grabbing a branch that was in my arms reach, and jumping off the ground.

I pulled myself up onto the branch. I was lying on my stomach on the branch, looking down at Gaara.

I smiled and teased, "Look, I'm finally taller than you."

I started to stand up as Gaara gave a small chuckle.

_***Gaara's P. O. V.***_

"What are you doing?" I asked, walking to stand behind Julia.

"I'm about to climb this tree," she said.

She grabbed a branch that was just in her arm's reach. She jumped off the ground, and pulled herself onto the branch. She was lying on her stomach, looking at me as I looked up at her with a small smile.

A smile claimed her lips as she said in a teasing tone, "Look, I'm finally taller than you."

I gave a small chuckle, and shook my head. I looked up and saw that she was standing on the branch. She had her arms out to her side to steady herself as she wobbled a bit. I quickly became worried.

_[She's going to fall! Hah!]_ Shukaku laughed.

"_Shut up! She isn't going to fall!" 'I hope.'_ I added silently in my head.

I made sand from the ground (we went out in public remember, so everybody was in the normal clothes that they got at the mall, so he didn't have his gourd.) build a platform. I stepped onto it, and made it go up to the level with the branch Julia was on.

I teased her back, "Sorry, you're not taller anymore. So come on, step on so we can go up higher."

She gave a small pout, making me chuckle. I grabbed her hand, and pulled her onto the platform. I let go of her hand once she was on, and made the platform go up toward the top of the tree. Once we were a little higher than the branch she had been standing on, she latched onto my arm. I looked down at her, to see that she had her eyes closed tight, and she was slightly shaking. My non-existing eyebrows pulled together in confusion.

"What's wrong, Julia?" I asked softly, as we reached a spot close to the top.

_***Julia's P. O. V.***_

'_Don't look down. Don't look down. Don't look down,'_ I kept repeating in my head.

I latched onto Gaara's arm, squeezed my eyes shut, and felt my body shaking slightly. I didn't know that he meant we were going up this far. My breathing was uneven, and even trying to take deep breaths wasn't working.

'_I hate heights. I hate heights. I hate heights,'_ I thought.

"What's wrong, Julia?" I heard Gaara ask softly.

"I-I _really_ don't like heights. Why s-s-so high up?" I asked, stuttering.

I opened my eyes to look at him, and noticed that we were sitting on a branch near the top. I wrapped my arms tightly around his chest, holding on like if I let go it would cost me my life. And it just might.

'_How long have we been sitting on this branch? Why did I open my eyes?'_ I thought.

"Well, being up this high has two perks," I heard Gaara whisper. I don't think I was supposed to hear that, but still I had to ask the question we all know is coming.

"What are they?" I asked, still holding on.

Gaara looked at me and gave me that small smile, replying, "Well, we're away from that Tay kid."

I smiled.

"Julia?!"

Tay's voice sounded a lot closer. Stupidly, I looked down, but noticed that Tay was standing under our tree before I closed my eyes tightly again.

"And the second reason?" I asked to get my mind off of the height.

Gaara hugged me, and said, "We get to be this close."

I smiled. Gaara let go, to keep us steady so we wouldn't fall. My smile faded, when a voice below us called.

"Julia?! What are you doing way up there?! And with _him_?!" Tay called up.

"Um….Sitting?" I called down.

"Why are you hugging _him_?!" he asked.

"So I won't fall!" I yelled back, sharper than I would have like to.

I heard Gaara smirk (that little air that comes out of your nose) next to me. Gaara made sand tap Tay on the shoulder, so he would turn around. It worked, and Tay turned around.

"Hello?" Tay kept calling.

Gaara made sand quickly bring us down to the ground, just in time for Tay to turn back around.

"So, why were you up there with _him_?" Tay accused.

Okay, I was getting pissed with Tay.

"First of all, _him_ has a name! Second of all, it's none of your gosh darn business what I was doing sitting at the top of a tree! And lastly, _what the heck do you want Tay_?!"

I could feel bad about yelling at him later, but right now, it felt pretty good.

Tay looked shocked that I had yelled at him. I've never yelled at Tay before because we were always in school, and it would look weird if I yelled at him with all those people around. But right now, in the middle of the woods, it was just Tay, Gaara, and me. And I was positive that Gaara wouldn't mind if I yelled at Tay.

"Well?!" I asked when Tay didn't respond.

"I didn't want you being alone with _him_," Tay finally said.

"I told you already. His. Name. Is. _Gaara_. And why can't I be alone with Gaara?" I asked, still pissed.

"Because, you can't be alone with guys other than me!"

"News flash, Tay! I've never hug out with you alone, and I hang out with my friend Trav all the time! Tay, look, I'm sorry, but I just don't like you like you want me to."

"Is _he _pressuring you?" Tay asked, glaring daggers at Gaara.

"No, Gaara is not pressuring me," I said.

'_Hmm, maybe this will get the idea through Tay's head,'_ I thought.

I took a step closer to Gaara, and I was now pressed against his side. Tay's eyes flickered to me, then his glair got even worse when Gaara put his arm around my shoulder.

"Get your arm off her!" Tay yelled.

"Why?" Gaara asked.

"Because she doesn't like it!"

Gaara raised a non-existing eyebrow, and asked, "Oh, and how do you know what she does and doesn't like?"

"I just do!" Tay yelled.

'_He's still not getting it,'_ I thought.

"Actually, I don't mind at all," I said, leaning my head on Gaara.

"See, he is pressuring you!" Tay yelled.

"I am not pressuring her," Gaara said, glairing at Tay.

"You are too!"

'_This is going to be so mean, but if this doesn't get the message through his head, then I don't know what will,'_ I thought sadly.

"Look, Tay, if this doesn't prove that Gaara isn't pressuring me, and that I don't have the same feelings for you, then I don't know what will," I said.

I turned around in Gaara's arms, stood on my tip-toes, and crashed my lips to his. I heard Tay gasp as I linked my arms behind Gaara's neck. Gaara put one hand in the middle of my back, and the other into my hair. I tilted my head to one side, intensifying the kiss. Gaara seemed to get the idea, and rubbed his hand up and down my back. As Gaara did this, there was a growl that came from Tay. I felt the back of shirt get pulled on, and I fell backwards onto the ground.

"Ouch," I said when I landed on my back.

I quickly got up, to see Tay trying to punch Gaara. It was pretty funny in my opinion. I was a few inches shorter than Gaara, and Tay was a few inches shorter than me, so Tay couldn't even reach Gaara's face with his punches. Not that he was punching Gaara anyway; Gaara was dodging them all with a board look on his face. Gaara couldn't use his sand, because then that would give him away. I walked up behind Tay, and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hey, Tay," I said.

When he turned around, my right fist connected with his nose. Blood gushed from it; I didn't think I hit him that hard. Tay looked at me shocked, and could see Gaara was too. The blood from Tay's nose dripped down the side of his nose and onto the ground below us.

"Tay, go find somebody else, because I'm not interested," I said.

Tay looked at me for a long second, and finally seeing that I don't like him, took off back toward the park. Once he was out of site, I shook my right hand, the one I had used to punch Tay.

"Oh, my gosh! That freaking hurt!" I exclaimed.

Gaara, still in shock, came over and gave me a hug, saying, "I think you broke his nose."

I gave a short laugh and said, "There's now way I hit him that hard."

Gaara shook his head, and insisted, "No, I'm almost positive that you broke his nose."

"Oops," I said, leaning my head on Gaara's chest. "My bad."

Gaara gave a laugh and said, "You're not sorry are you?"

"Not one bit, though I'll feel sorry later."

_***Mo's P.O.V.***_

I was still running around with Kiba and Akamaru. Shikamaru was sleeping in the grass, and Temari was just laying there next to him. I looked toward the woods.

'_They've been gone for a while now,'_ I thought.

Just then, Tay came running out of the woods, with his hands over his nose and mouth. Kiba came up next to me, and looked where I was looking.

"Hey, isn't that that weird kid who hugged Julia?" Kiba asked.

"Yah, but whys he holding his nose?" I wondered.

Kiba shrugged, and said, "I don't know, maybe Gaara beet the living snot out of him?"

That did seem possible, but Julia wouldn't let him do that. It only made me wonder more. A few minuets later, Julia and Gaara came out of the woods. I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me.

Kiba must have seen the same thing as me, because he asked, "Are they holding hands?"

I slowly nodded my head, and replied, "I think so."

Kiba looked at me, and then we both took off toward them. Temari sat up, and shook Shikamaru's shoulder. When he didn't wake up, she whispered something in his ear. I saw him sit bolt upright, and I thought his cheeks were the slightest color of pink. We reached Julia and Gaara, and they immediately dropped their hands. Temari and Shikamaru both showed up behind us.

"What took you guys so long?" I asked.

"Tay," Julia replied.

That reminded me, "What happened to Tay? He came running out of the forest holding his nose and mouth."

Julia looked down, but Gaara smirked. Okay, now I really wanted to know.

Temari asked, "Gaara, what did you do?"

Gaara looked at his sister and said, "I didn't do anything."

"Then what happened?" Kiba asked, and I just noticed that he was standing behind me, making me blush.

Julia started to move one foot back and forth in the grass, and Gaara's smirk grew.

"Julia broke his nose," Gaara answered.

Shikamaru, Temari, Kiba, and I all turned to Julia shocked. Whatever I was expecting, that wasn't it.

Julia turned to Gaara and yelled, "I did not break his nose!"

"Yes, you did," Gaara said.

"I did not!"

"No, I'm positive that you broke his nose."

"Well," Temari started, "why'd you break his nose?"

"Um, he was trying to punch Gaara," Julia said reluctantly.

Kiba and I burst out laughing. We both fell backwards onto the ground.

"H-he….Oh my gosh!…That's hilarious!" I laughed.

_***Julia's P. O. V.***_

This was irritating. Okay, so I'll admit it; I probably broke Tay's nose. But did they have to laugh about it? Okay, so I had laughed in the woods, but I think that might have been from shock. Now, regret and guilt was coming at me like I had a big flashy Vegas sign that read _"Over here! I don't have enough guilt, may I have some more please?"_Yah, I was feeling it big time. The only bright side of this was that Tay would most likely leave me alone now. I crossed my arms.

"Okay, okay, you can stop laughing now. Maybe we should head back now? It has to be close to dinner time now," I said, trying to change the subject.

Kiba stood up, and then help a red-faced Mo to her feet.

"Alright, you're right, we should be heading back," Mo said.

So, we headed back. Temari had dragged Gaara to the front so she could talk to him about…well, I really didn't know what they were talking about. Kiba and Shikamaru were a few feet behind us, talking about the Orochimaru situation. That left me alone with Mo in the center. Great, I could tell she was about to bombard me with questions.

"What is it?" I asked.

"So, what _really_took you so long? Punching Tay doesn't take over an hour," she said.

'_An hour?! We were gone for over an hour?! Holy guacamole!'_ I though in shock.

I blushed. Okay, so I was going to have to tell her about the kiss. She would tell me if she kissed Kiba. Right? Well, Mo would find out one way or another. She just has ways of finding out information. Though I have no idea how she does it. And if I think about it, do I really want to know how she knows?

"Um, well, uh," I stuttered, my face going a darker shade.

"Come on! Spit it out!" she urged.

"Um, come here," I said, gesturing that I was going to whisper in her ear.

She quickly tilted her head toward me. I cupped my hands and put them over her ear. I whispered what happened. When I was done, she looked shocked.

"Well, that's what happened," I said.

"Oh, my, gosh. No way!" she exclaimed.

"Yah, I know. I was shocked too," I admitted.

By this time, we had reached my house. I mad spaghetti for dinner, and Mo helped by making the garlic bread. At dinner, there was a silence. I thought it was the food, but it tasted right to me.

"Is there something wrong with the food? Should I make something else?" I asked, about to get up.

"No, the foods fine," Kakashi said, though he hadn't even touched his. He always waits for everyone else to finish if it's something he can't eat really fast.

"The foods fine, but we're most likely going after Orochimaru tomorrow," Iruka started. "Then we'll have to be heading home."

"Oh, right, of course," Mo and I both said at the same time.

'_Their going to be leaving,'_ the sad truth dawned on me. _'But, Gaara, I think I'm really starting to like him. More than I should.'_

_***Gaara's P. O. V.***_

'_We're leaving. But what about Julia?'_

_[Hah hah, worried about the little girl?]_

"_She's only one year younger than me," _I argued.

_[I wasn't talking about her age. I was referring to her height.]_

That was true. But I thought her height was perfect. She fit perfectly in my arms. Besides, it was only a few inches. It's not like I was a foot taller than her.

"_I like her height."_

_[Whatever. Why are you so worried about her?]_

The truth was, I was starting to like Julia more than I should. I knew it was wrong, that I shouldn't, but I couldn't help it. It was like she was my fuel. Her smile, her laugh, her embrace. And her kiss. When I kissed her, I thought my soul was on fire. Then it hit me.

"_I think she's the one for me."_

_[No, you live for only yourself. Don't forget that.]_

"_You're wrong. I live to protect my village, and now I know I'd protect Julia."_

_[So, what are you going to do about it?]_

'_Good question. What was I going to do about it?' _I thought.

"_Do you think she'd want to come with me? Back to Suna?"_

_***Kiba's P. O. V.***_(Woo! I thought this was needed! )

We were leaving? Well, it shouldn't have surprised me. Of course we had to go home. Kahona needed us there. After all, we are ninja. But, what about Mo? I have to tell her how I feel. I like her more than a friend; I had already come to that conclusion. Leaving was probably going to be the hardest thing I would ever have to do.

'_What am I going to do?! I don't want to loose her!'_ Then the answer came to me. _'I'll ask her to come with. But, will she accept. What if she didn't think the same about me?'_

_***Julia's P. O. V.***_(sorry about all the jumping around with the point of views.)

I had finally come to my conclusion. There was no way for me to have a life with Gaara. After all, he wouldn't want to take me to Suna with him. As much as I would love to go and live in Suna with Gaara, he probably didn't want the same.

'_There's no hope'_

After dinner, Mo and I cleaned the dishes. After that, we were about to head up the stairs and get ready for bed. Then Kiba came up to us. I noticed that he looked really nervous about something.

"Um, Mo, can I, uh, talk to, um, you for a, uh, um, moment?" Kiba finally said after a while.

"Sure, what is it?" Mo asked, bringing cheerfulness into her voice.

Kiba looked at me, and I put my hands up in defense and then walked down the hallway to my bedroom. Okay, I'll admit it; I wanted to stay around the corner and listen to what they were going to say, but I didn't. And the only reason I didn't was because Gaara was in my room-like he always is-and he looked like he needed to be cheered up. So I- (don't jump to some sick conclusion! You'll find out!)

_***Mo's P. O. V.***_

After Julia disappeared down the hallway-probably to get dressed in her pajamas-Kiba just stared at me for a long moment. I waited, and waited, and waited. And you know what? _I waited some more!_ I'll give him some credit though; it looked like he wanted to say something without messing it up. Finally he spoke.

"Mo, can we go outside to talk?"

I nodded, pondering on what he could possibly want to say. Once outside, he stopped and turned to me. It was dark out, and we didn't turn on the lights before we came out. I couldn't see him very well, but I had the feeling that he could see me just fine. I herd him take a deep breath, and murmur something along the lines of _'Here go nothing'_ or was it _'Here goes everything'_?

"Mo, this is going to sound really far fetched-no pun intended-" I laughed when he said that, and I thought I saw him smile from what I _could_ see of him, "but I have to get it out there. Mo, I really like you," My heart skipped a beat after those words came out, but what came next made it accelerate, "and I'm not just talking 'Yo, what's up, you're so cool'. No, I'm talking about 'I see you and my eyes see nothing but you'." He paused and smiled before saying while rubbing the back of his head, "That sounded like a really bad poem, but that's just the way I feel."

I smiled, and stepped forward to give him a hug. I felt him tense, but then he relaxed and wrapped his arms around me too. I just noticed how strong he was; how well built his arms were when he returned my hug. I smiled up at him, though he wasn't much taller.

"To be honest, I feel the same way," I said, and watched a huge goofy smile spread across his face.

There was a silence, but then I herd something coming from behind the closed door. The door opened, to reveal Julia and Gaara. Julia walked out first, caring a music player. There was just background music, like what we use to practice our singing when we're by ourselves. I listened to the music, and knew the song that was playing.

_Oh, no. She wouldn't. Right?_

Well, it turns out I was wrong. The words started to come out of her lips.

"_There you see her  
Sitting there across the way  
She don't got alot to say  
But there's something about her  
And you don't know why  
But you're dying to try  
You wanna kiss girl._

Yes, you want her  
Look at her, you know you do  
It's possible she wants you too  
There's one way to ask her  
It don't take a word, not a single word  
Go on and kiss the girl (kiss the girl)

Shalalalala  
My oh my  
Looks like the boy's too shy  
Ain't gonna kiss the girl  
Shalalalala  
Ain't that sad  
it's such a shame  
Too bad, you're gonna miss the girl  
go on and kiss the girl (kiss the girl)

Nows your moment  
Floating in a blue lagoon  
Boy, you better do it soon  
The time will be better  
She don't say a word  
And she wont say a word  
Until you kiss the girl (kiss the girl)

Shalalalala  
My oh my  
Looks like the boy's too shy  
Ain't gonna kiss the girl  
Shalalalala  
Ain't that sad  
it's such a shame  
Too bad, you're gonna miss the girl

Shalalalala  
Don't be scared  
You better be prepared  
Go on and kiss the girl  
Shalalalala  
Don't stop now  
Don't try to hide it how  
You wanna kiss the girl  
Go on and kiss the girl  
(kiss the girl)  
(oh, ohnoo..)  
(kiss the girl, kiss the girl)  
Lalalala, Lalalala  
Go on and kiss the girl  
Lalalala, Lalalala  
Go on and kiss the girl

Shalalalala  
My oh myyyyy  
Looks like the boy's too shy  
Ain't gonna kiss the girl  
Shalalalala  
Ain't that sad  
it's such a shame  
Too bad, you're gonna miss the girl

Lalalala, Lalalala  
(Go on and kiss the girl)  
Go on and kiss that girl!  
Lalalala, Lalalala  
(Go on and kiss the girl)  
Go on and kiss the girl  
Kiss the girl  
(Kiss the girl)  
Go on and kiss the girl"

Well, I'll have to thank her later. Why you ask? Because just then Kiba looked down at me, tilted my head up by my chin with his pointer finger; he descended his head down partway to mine. I brought my head up the rest of the way; causing our lips to meet. Once that happened, it was as if a fireworks stand went off in my mind, and my mouth was on fire. That must have sounded stupid, but I'm into stupid things like that.

_***Gaara's P. O. V.***_ (this is backing up a bit so you know what happened when Julia's P. O. V. stopped)

I was pondering how I was going to ask Julia to come back with me to Suna, what our plan should be to catch Orochimaru, and how we were going to do it. I was looking out the window, and saw that it was a half moon tonight. How was I going to get Julia to come back with me? What if she didn't want to come with? What if she didn't feel the same way?

_[Don't be so stupid! She kissed you back when you kissed her didn't she?]_ Shukaku said.

He had a point, but the thoughts didn't stop.

"_Do you ever shut up and just let me worry about something I don't have to worry about by myself?"_

_[No, there's nothing better to do in your head than bother you.]_

I sighed; he could be so annoying some…well, all the time. I didn't notice that the door opened and that somebody was walking in until they sat next to me. I looked over and saw Julia smiling at me. That odd sensation that I get in my stomach when she's around came like I knew it would. And like I knew I would, I liked the feeling.

"Hey Gaara, what yah doing?" Julia asked me.

I wasn't ready to ask her, so I said, "Just looking at the moon."

She didn't look convinced, and my thoughts were confirmed when she said, "It looked more like you extremely annoyed with something. I thought you really liked the moon, not found it annoying."

Shukaku was laughing in my head, _[She's got you there!]_

_Okay, change the subject._

"So where's Mo?"

She smiled, "She's talking to Kiba." Then she looked like she thought of something, saying, "I have an idea! Follow me."

So I got up and followed her. She grabbed a music player from a game room and plopped a CD into it. She skipped to one of the songs, and before the music could start, she paused it. She started to walk toward the back door, and she walked out. I saw Mo and Kiba hugging.

_So he does like her. I knew it._

Julia started to play the music, and soon she started to sing.

_That voice, I've herd it before. Where?_

_[You idiot, at the party that she held! She was Solar and Mo was Crystal!]_

Just as she finished, Kiba and Mo kissed. I turned around and walked inside with Julia. I smiled, maybe Kiba and I could think of a way to ask them together. That's if he wants Mo to come back with us. He probably will though.

_***Julia's P. O. V.***_

I just walked back into the house with Gaara. I was smiling widely. Would it be fare that I got my first kiss with Gaara if she didn't get hers with Kiba when they were most likely leaving tomorrow? The smile quickly left my face; replaced with a frown so sad that it would make the happiest person turn over to depression. Gaara and I reached my room, and I sat on my bed. Gaara came and sat in front of me, watching my face intensely.

"What's wrong Julia?" he finally asked.

I looked up, and he looked truly concerned.

"You're leaving tomorrow," I whispered.

There was silence. A long silence. A _very_ long silence. Gaara unsurely pulled me into a hug. I wrapped my arms around him as well, and we stayed like that. There was a quick knock and the door opened. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Mo with her face a deep magenta. Gaara and I pulled away, and Mo came and sat on her bed. She looked at us.

"Sorry if I was interrupting anything," she said.

I smiled, and Gaara said, "You two should get to bed."

"Yah," we both said sadly.

I crawled under my covers as Mo did the same. Gaara sat on my window sill looking out the window. I quickly started to drift off to sleep. I vaguely saw Gaara turn to look at me before I fell into a dreamless sleep.

_***Kakashi and Iruka's P. O. V. Third person***_

Kakashi and Iruka were out in the front yard arguing. They were doing it silently so the others wouldn't hear them.

"Tell them! They may want to-" Iruka was saying.

Kakashi interrupted him, "And what are we going to tell them?! 'You weren't really supposed to be h-"

Iruka cut him off, "No, I'm not saying that! I'm saying that if we told them, they might want to go where they belong! You know just as well as I that they belong w-"

"I know! You know I want to tell them the truth just as much as you do, but what about their l-"

"I'm sure they'd adapt!" Iruka yelled.

Kakashi was about to counter Iruka when Naruto came running out of the house.

"What are you two doing out here? It's time for bed! We're going to kick some Orochimaru butt in the morning! Believe it!" Naruto yelled.

Iruka and Kakashi sighed and followed Naruto into the house. They'd have to continue the conversation later. For this argument was far from over.

_***Julia's P. O. V.***_

I awoke the next morning to find that the house was empty. This scared me more than anything so far in my life. Was it all just a dream? I take it back; _that_ scared me more than anything in my life so far. I nudged Mo with my foot; accidently pushing her off the bed. She groaned and sat up; looking at me.

"What?" she asked.

"The house is empty!" I yelled.

She was still mostly asleep when she answered me, "Yah? And your point is?"

Oh. My. Gosh! It was just a dream! I thought I was about to start crying; it had been so _real_. Just then Mo looked like something just hit her in the face as she became fully awake.

"Wait! Did you just say that the house is empty?!" she yelled.

I nodded sadly. She jumped up off the ground and ran out of the room. She came back a couple of minuets later and looked just as sad as I did. We both sat down on my bed and looked at the floor. I looked at my nightstand to see the time when I noticed a piece of paper right next to it. I quickly snatched it up and unfolded it; Mo looking over my shoulder. Another piece of paper fell out of the first one. Mo picked that one up and unfolded it. I glanced at the first one to see my name at the top; I looked at the second one to see Mo's name on that one. I looked back at mine.

_Julia,_

_We went to go catch Orochimaru. I promise we'll be back. I wanted to ask you something last night, but never got the chance to do so. I'll ask you when we come back. Kakashi also wanted to talk to you, so I'll let him go first. I'll see you later, promise._

_-Gaara-_

I smiled. So it wasn't all just a dream. I immediately felt better. Then my mind went to what he had said. What did he want to ask me? What did Kakashi want? I looked over at Mo to see that she was smiling as well. She looked at me and held out her note; I did the same. Her letter had the same thing as mine almost. Kiba said that they went after Orochimaru, he promised to come back, he had something that he wanted to ask her that was really important and he didn't know how to put it, Iruka wanted to talk to her, he'd let him go first so he could have more time to think, then he promised to come back again. I handed Mo her letter again and smiled.

"So, it wasn't just a dream," I said.

"Yah."

I playfully punched her in the arm, "You scared the spit out of me when you said 'Yah? And your point is?' I thought that I had dreamt it and that you had just stayed the night."

She laughed, "I'm sorry! I wasn't paying attention and it didn't register in my head."

I laughed too, "Nothing ever registers in your head!"

"Hey! That did! And you're the one to talk!"

We both laughed and decided to get dressed. After that we had breakfast. Then we waited, and waited, and waited some more. We had some lunch then went right back to waiting. It was getting close to dinner when there was a knock on my front door. Mo and I both jumped up and ran to the door. We opened it to see Gaara, Kiba, Kakashi, and Iruka. This actually confused me.

"Where are the others?" I asked just as Mo asked, "Did you get him?"

Mo and I stepped back as they came in. Iruka spoke.

"Yes we caught him, and we sent the others to bring him back. Temari and Kankuro went back to Suna."

Before either Mo or I could speak, Kakashi said, "Julia, Mo, Iruka and I wanted to talk to you both." Gaara and Kiba were about to leave when he said, "You two might want to stay for this as well."

Gaara and Kiba came back and we all sat down. Gaara and I sat on the couch, Kiba and Mo on another, and Kakashi and Iruka both sat in chairs. What did they need to tell us? They both looked really serious, and that worried me.

"Kiba I know that you like Mo and she likes you, as well as Gaara likes Julia and she like him," Iruka started.

Kakashi looked at Iruka, saying, "Why start with that, it will only confuse them."

Iruka shook his head and continued, "Mo, Julia, this is very important what Kakashi and I are about to tell the both of you."

We all waited for either Iruka to continue or for Kakashi to speak. Kakashi looked at Iruka, and when he nodded, Kakashi sighed and pulled something out of his vest pocket. He looked at it for a second before holding out to me with the picture side down. Unsure, I reached out and took it. When Kakashi nodded, I flipped it over. I stared in shock at what I saw. Was that me? No, there's no way that's me! But I have that exact little outfit and that looks exactly like me.

"What is it, Julia?" Mo asked me.

I handed her the picture. She also looked at the picture in shock. Gaara was just looking at me, not believing the picture while Kiba looked at it with Mo. I looked back at Kakashi.

"Was that me?" I asked.

Kakashi nodded, "Yes, that baby in the picture is you." He took a deep breath, "And I am also your biological father."

Okay, so I think my mouth hit the floor on that one. Not literally, but pretty darn close. Mo absently handed Kakashi back the picture as Iruka held one out to her. I had a feeling on what this one was going to be, but I was still shocked when Mo handed me the picture. It wasn't of Iruka and a baby like I had thought, but rather of a woman and a baby. The women looked rather young, but if you think about it, is there really an age on love? Is there some law-okay so there was a law about that, but that's not the point.

"I'm sure you can already guess what I'm going to say, but I am your father Marissa. That woman in the picture is your mother," Iruka said.

Kakashi, Iruka, Gaara, and Kiba were all talking, but none of it was registering in my head. I was just looking at Kakashi. How was I his daughter? I looked nothing like him. Did I look more like my mother? Who was my mother? Was I an only child? How did I end up in this world? _Why_ did I end up in this world? Did he not want me? Did my mother not want me? Was there another unknown reason that I couldn't even begin to imagine? Did Kakashi and Iruka plan this out? Where was my mother now? Was she alive? Was she dead? Was she a ninja? Was she a stay home wife? Did she love me? Why, if he gave me up, is he telling me this now?

"So it should work," Kakashi said, bringing me back to reality.

Gaara turned to me and gave that small smile, "So, what do you think?"

I blinked at him, looked at Mo-she looked the same as me-, looked at Kakashi, and then back to Gaara.

"What?" I asked.

I looked at Kakashi as he spoke, "We want you to come back with us, but I know how much you like Gaara, and came up with that if you want to come back with us, you can stay with him."

I sat up straighter and looked at him hopefully.

He continued, "But you have to come visit every once and a while, and I will you. If Mo wanted to, she could move to Kahona with Iruka and Kiba so you two would still be in contact with each other."

I looked at Gaara, "Is it alright with you?"

Gaara gave that small smile again, "Yes, it's alright with me. So what do you think?"

"I think yes!" I looked at Mo. "What about you?"

Mo was beaming, "Well duh!" But then she looked sad again. "What are we going to tell our parents-I mean…what do we call them now? Adopted parents? Whatever, what do we tell them? And aren't we leaving after Julia and I pack?"

Iruka spoke, "They knew that we'd be here for you someday. And they should all be pulling up in a few minuets anyway. Kakashi and I will talk to them while you both go pack."

Leaving was going to be the worst and the best things to ever happen to me. Because it was still light out, Mo, Kiba, and Iruka set off toward her house so she could pack. Gaara, Kakashi, and I all walked up the stares to my bedroom. What was I going to pack? I was leaving for the rest of my life.

As I entered, my room, I walked into my closet. I reached to the top of one of the racks and pulled down a dark green duffel-bag that had one of my nicknames on the side. I looked around to see what I just couldn't leave behind. I sighed; this was going to be too hard. I decided to start with pajamas. Of course I was going to pack my favorite ones; a teal short-short sleeve (you know when it's a short sleeve but it's just past your shoulder but shorter than a regular?) with a little ninja on it that says _Girls Make Better Ninja_ with the matching teal shorts, a green short sleeve shirt that says _I Kick It With Ninjas_ on it purple letters with purple shorts, and various others that I really like. Next I packed…um…_female items_, yah and undergarments. After that were shirts. I packed a black Volcom tour shirt, some with funny sayings and regular sayings, and some just regular colors with nothing on them; also some tank-tops and such. Next; pants. I threw in some jeans, Capri's, and shorts of different lengths. I packed socks, and some different shoes; including the dreaded high-heals. I sighed again and walked back out to grab the skeleton key. I dropped the duffel-bag on my bed where Kakashi and Gaara were sitting. I walked back into the closet and went to the other one, entering it and pulling out a special duffel-bag for clothes like blouses, slacks, suits, and dresses. I neatly packed the blouses, slacks, and some dresses that weren't all that bad. I also laid that on the bed, walking down the hallway to the bathroom to grab my toothbrush, toothpaste, hairbrush, and deodorant. I walked to the game room, grabbing all of my CD's, my Zune (not an iPod but like it for all you people who don't know), its charger, my laptop in its case, and a black backpack. Walking back into my bedroom, I put all of the stuff that I just named into it, along with all of my books (good thing the books I ordered had arrived [zall: you know from earlier in the story?] a while ago), and my photo album, along with some other things; putting the bathroom necessities into the first bag with my clothes. Kakashi and Gaara just watched me the whole time I did this. I smiled and gestured to my stuff.

"Is that too much?" I asked.

They both chuckled and Kakashi said, "No, actually I thought that there would be more than that."

I smiled, "Okay, thanks."

We brought my stuff down the stares just as the front door was opening. I held my breath and turned around to pick Coconut up in my arms, giving him a kiss on the head. I stood in-between Kakashi and Gaara. Both my parents and Mo's parents came in, laughing and chatting. They stopped talking when they saw us. Both my parents gave a weak smile when they saw my bags. My dad-my _adopted _dad-stepped forward.

"So, you must be Kakashi Hatake, correct?" he asked, extending his hand out.

Kakashi nodded and shook hands, "Yes, that's correct. Marissa, Iruka, and Kiba will be back in just a moment, they went to gather her things. I'm so sorry, but we gave them a choice if they wanted to come with us or stay here; they both chose to come with us."

All four adults' faces saddened when they herd that we _chose_ to leave. I gave them a small, weak, sad smile as I put Coconut down, Rusti coming up by my feet as well. Just them Mo, Kiba, and Iruka came through the door with Mo's things and Rusti's as well. There was a long talk between the adults so Gaara, Kiba, Mo, and I went to sit in the living-room. Gaara looked at me.

"Do you want to get Coconut's things together?" he asked me.

My face brightened, "You'll let me bring him?"

Gaara chuckled, "Of course, after all, he is you baby. I wouldn't even think about letting you leave him behind. Besides," he said as he picked him up and set him in his lap, "I've grown sort of attached to this little guy as it is."

I hugged Gaara, "Thank you so much."

Just then Iruka called, "Kids, can you come here?"

We all got up and walked to where the others were. Our _adopted_ parents pulled us into hugs and we hugged back. It was going to be hard to let them go; the very people who raised me and gave me everything I ever needed and wanted.

"We'll miss you sweetie. But you belong with them; they're your real family," my _adopted_ mom said.

I smiled, "Thanks." I turned to Kakashi, "Just let me grab Coconut's things and we can get going."

Kakashi nodded as Gaara and I left to gather his bed, bowls, harness with leash, and some of his toys and bones. When I returned, my _adopted_ dad was holding out a lot of money. He put it in my hands.

"This is what we had saved away for when you did leave. Take it," he said.

"Thank you, I'm going to miss you," I said as Mo was saying goodbye to her _adopted_ parents as well.

Gaara, Kakashi, and I picked up my bags as Kiba, Iruka, and Mo picked up hers. Kakashi and Iruka did some hand-signs and put them on our shoulders. There was a swirl of colors as both mine and Mo's _adopted_ parents and old home left from view. The colors went from light, to dark, to black, to dark again, back to light, and finally I felt my feet land. My stomach wasn't feeling too well and neither was my head. We were in a forest somewhere. Kakashi spoke.

"Gaara, I trust that you can get the both of you back to Suna fine? This is the half way mark between the villages," he said, even though I'm sure Gaara knew that, I think he said it for both Mo's and my knowledge.

When Gaara nodded Kakashi said, "Goodbye Julia, I'll see you soon."

Mo and I walked toward each other, Coconut and Rusti at our feet on their leashes, as I said, "I'll see you later Mo. Stay in touch!"

Mo smiled, "You bet! You'll have to come see Kahona, and I'm dying to see Suna! Write after Gaara gives you a tour of the village! Send pictures over you phone!" She turned to Iruka, "Will we get service here?"

Iruka nodded, "Yes, you should. We get waves from the other world, that's how we got there and back."

Mo and I gave each other a quick hug before we all went out separate ways. We all waved until we were out of sight. I smiled at Gaara as Coconut sniffed everything in this new world.

This world didn't look much different than my world; just a little more…I don't know how to describe it! I'm sure that after I get used to the way things look here, and if I ever go back to my world, that this will look real and the other…not real. Okay that made no sense, but do you know what I'm talking about? Gaara and I walked for what seemed like just a few minuets, but the sky started to turn dark, and soon the stars were out. I had picked Coconut up in my arms a while ago because he kept wanting to lie down; lazy puppy. We were now walking through the desert, and there was something growing in the distance. As we came closer, I recognized it as a village. I pointed.

"Is that Suna?" I asked.

Gaara smiled and nodded, "Yes." He turned to me, "Your new home."

I smiled right before laughing; when Gaara gave me an odd look I said, "I can't wait to see Temari's and Kankuro's faces when they see me!"

Gaara chuckled, "That will be interesting."

Soon we were at the village gates, and I ran up to them. Two guards were standing there doing what else but guard. They both straitened up and looked at me; Gaara was still walking regularly.

"Who are you and what is your business?" one of them demanded.

I smiled, "I live here now. I'm here with Gaara."

They both laughed, as the other spoke, "Yah right kid! The Kazekage isn't even in the village at the moment! He went on a mission to track down Orochimaru!"

Just then Gaara came up behind me; while looking at the guards who were still laughing he said, "Is there a problem that my girlfriend would be moving to Suna; Nejiri and Mukade?"

Both of the ninja stopped laughing at once and looked at us. Coconut had fallen asleep in my arms and my backpack was on my back (duh). Gaara was looking at them, awaiting an answer.

The first ninja who had spoken, Nejiri, spoke, "N-no Kazekage-soma! We apologize; we didn't know she was your girlfriend!"

The second, Mukade, added to me, "We're real sorry miss!"

I smiled, "That's okay! It's not that big of a deal!"

Just by being in this world and seeing what it's like was making me happy. Besides, when Gaara left he didn't have a girlfriend, so him coming back with one was something they weren't expecting.

Gaara nodded, "It's fine, and it was a simple mistake."

They bowed at Gaara and I walked threw the gates. There wasn't anybody on the streets and most lights were off. This place was really cool, and even better than what I'd seen on television. Gaara and I walked to the Kazekage building and entered. We went up till we were almost at the top. Gaara stopped before a door. He opened it and motioned for me to enter. Gaara put my bags down by the closet, so I did the same with my backpack and Coconut's things.

Gaara spoke, "This is your room; do anything you like with it. My room is right across the hall and has my name on it. Next to mine is Kankuro's and next to yours across from Kankuro is Temari's; they also have their names on the door. We'll get yours on in a few days, probably tomorrow."

I smiled and asked, "Thanks! Do you think after you're done with work tomorrow that you can give me a tour of Suna?"

Gaara nodded, "That can be arranged." He looked at the clock and said, "My office is on the top floor, right above this one, I'll be in there if you need me. There should be a room that says 'secretary and Kazekage' on it. Go in there, and you'll be in an office like room, there is a door that connects to that one that says 'Kazekage' on it. That's my office, and I'll be in there if you need me."

I smiled and gave him a hug, "Alright, good night Gaara."

After he left I got changed into my pajamas that said _I kick it with ninjas_ on the shirt and crawled into bed; bringing Coconut under the covers with me. I kissed his head and fell asleep. I woke up to Coconut licking my face the next morning. I groaned and rolled over. I sat up and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. I kissed his head good morning and looked around my room. I sighed when I realized that it wasn't all just a dream; after that incident with Mo I couldn't be to sure. There was a knock on my door.

"Yah?" I called. "Come in."

It burst open and Temari and Kankuro were standing there in shock. I looked at them oddly before Temari was suddenly giving me a death hug. Kankuro walked over and put his hand on Temari's shoulder.

"Temari, you're killing her!" he yelled.

"Sorry!" she yelled as she let go. "Julia! You're here! We thought that we'd never see you again!" Temari hit Kankuro's arm and said, "And you were all sad that none of us said goodbye!"

He glared at her while I laughed. Kankuro raised an eyebrow and asked, "What does your shirt say?"

I looked down and smiled saying, "I kick it with ninjas. Pretty sweet right?!"

They both laughed and Temari pulled me out of my bed. Coconut jumped down off the bed and was following up to the door. Kankuro picked him up and set him back on the bed telling him to stay. Temari pulled me up the stares and into the room that Gaara had told me about earlier; ignoring my requests to know where we were going and why I was going in my pajamas. She burst through the door that was what I assumed Gaara's office.

_***Mo's P. O. V.***_

When we got to Kahona I was so excited that I thought at any minuet I might start hyper venerating! Kakashi went to check in with Tsunade while Iruka, Kiba, and I went to my new home. When we reached Iruka's house (she isn't living with Kiba like Julia is with Gaara because Iruka is her dad remember so it makes more sense) he showed me to my room and I put my stuff on my bed. Rusti was walking besides Akamaru and Kiba and I decided that he'd show me around the village. Finally we made it to his house (don't even try to twist that). He looked nervous and I had to admit that I was as well; I was going to meet his family.

"Mom, Hana! I want you to meet someone!" Kiba yelled.

After he said that two people showed up before us. I smiled shyly as they looked at me. It was his mother who spoke first.

"Kiba, who is this young lady?" Tsume asked.

He took a deep breath and said, "Mom, Hana, this is my girlfriend Marissa. Mo, this is my mom Tsume and my sister Hana."

They both beamed happily and hugged me tightly. When we pulled away Hana spoke.

"So, Mo, what rank are you? How come I've never seen you around the village before?" she asked.

This was a little awkward but I said, "I'm not a ninja…yet! I will be, I just have to sign up to go the academy. And this is my first day in Kahona; in this world really. I came from another world." I looked down by my feet and said, "And this is my dog Rusti!" I picked her up and held her out.

They both looked at her and Hana took her into her arms. She petted her head and smiled.

"She's a very nice girl. I'm sure Akamaru will get along with her just fine. I've never seen this kind of dog before; I'm assuming that she came from your world?" Hana said.

I nodded and Tsume asked, "What's that around her neck?"

I looked and said, "That's her collar."

Kiba looked at it, "Julia's dog Coconut had a blue one on right? Why do they have them?"

"It's so if they ever get lost and somebody finds them they know what number to call and where they live; and yes, Coconut did have a blue one on."

Tsume looked at us confused, "Who is Julia and Coconut?"

I smiled, "Julia is my best friend and Coconut is her dog. She'll tell you he's vicious but he's just a big softy that's afraid of his own shadow."

They laughed, "Well, you're always welcome here Mo! So, where are you staying, or did you need a place to stay?"

"I'm living with my dad, Iruka," I explained.

They looked shocked, "Iruka's your dad? I didn't know he had a daughter?"

Kiba laughed, "Neither did we! We found out just really early this morning!" He laughed again before saying, "And get this! Julia, Mo's friend is Kakashi's daughter and Gaara's girlfriend!"

They were still shocked when I looked out the window, "Oh my gosh it's really late! I better get home!"

Once Kiba had dropped me back at home I knew that no matter what happened I would be able to handle it, even if I have to ask for help some of the time. I'd become a kick butt ninja that would make Chuck Norris look bad. The next morning I asked Iruka-or I guess I should start calling him dad now-if I could start ninja school. He was happy that I wanted to become a ninja and told me that I could come to work with him today. Because he's a teacher he had to be there early so I worked on my letter to Julia just as a letter was delivered to Iruka-I mean dad. He saw who it was from and handed it to me. It was from Julia.

_Dear Mo,_

_Hey! How's it going? Is Kahona awesome? Suna is so cool! It looks even cooler than it does on television! Temari nearly hugged me to death and Kankuro was shocked so bad he couldn't say anything except, "Temari, you're killing her." How did the other's reacted to you being there? I met this girl, Matsuri, and I think she hates me. She was sort of friendly at first until Gaara said who I was and then she was giving me this glair that was casually scaring me for the longest time until she left. I mentioned it to Gaara when she was gone and he told me she was just shy. Yah right. Coconut says hi and how is Rusti? Tell Kiba and everyone I say hello! Write me back once you get this letter! See yah the next time I see yah!_

_-Julia- (of the sand, heh heh, I just wanted to put that)_

_***Julia's P. O. V.* **__(right before the letter was written and she was in Gaara's office in her pajamas)_

Gaara looked at us oddly but gave that small smile when he saw me. Temari pulled me up to him and put me in front of her.

"Look at her pajama shirt! Isn't it just the coolest?" she said happily.

He looked at it and chuckled, "I kick it with ninjas?"

I smiled, "Yep, neat huh?"

Gaara nodded and Kankuro suggested, "Gaara, why don't you take the rest of the day off? Temari and I can do this; Julia needs a tour of the village."

Temari didn't even wait for an answer before she pushed us out of the office door. We both turned around but the door shut. Gaara sighed and we both went down a floor. I started to go into my room when Gaara spoke.

"What are you doing? I was going to give you a tour," he asked.

I turned around, "In my pajamas? I'll be out in a moment."

I went in and changed into some cakey colored Capri's and a wine colored tank-top. I slipped on some socks and my black tennis-shoes. After I brushed my teeth, brushed my hair, and put on deodorant I joined Gaara back out in the hall. As he was showing me the village and we were almost done we herd his name being called.

"Gaara-kun! Gaara-kun!" the voice called.

We both turned and a girl with short, spiky, light brown hair came up to us. She smiled at Gaara but her smile fell when she saw me. She put a fake one on and asked Gaara who I was.

"Matsuri, this is Julia, Julia this is Matsuri," Gaara explained.

I smiled and extended my hand, "Nice to meet you Matsuri."

She roughly grabbed my hand and squeezed hard, and I would have said ouch if I knew it wouldn't have made her happy. She let go of my hand and turned back to Gaara.

"So, how do you two know each other?" she asked in a fake happy tone.

Okay, if she was going to act like a b-watch then I was going to treat her like one. I smiled wide and stepped closer to Gaara, linking my arm with his, resting my head on his arm and explained.

"I'm his girlfriend, and Gaara was just showing me around the village," I said happily.

She glared at me and I saw her fists clench as she said through clenched teeth, "Well, isn't that lovely? I'm very…_happy _…for you both. I'll see you later Gaara-kun."

After that she left. Gaara and I went to lunch. I brought up her behavior and how she was glaring at me. He told me she was just shy and she'd warm up to me. I really didn't think so. There was another thing that I wanted to ask him.

"Gaara, do you think I could go to school to be a ninja? Like a medical ninja?" I asked.

Gaara looked like he was deep in thought and it was a while before he answered me, "No, I don't think that's such a good idea."

"Why? You're the Kazekage, it's not like I wouldn't be allowed right?" I asked.

Gaara just shook his head, "I don't want you to be a ninja, and it's too dangerous; you could get hurt."

I looked at him shocked, "What? That's your reason? What's wrong with being a medical ninja?"

"You'd have to become a ninja first," he said.

"So, I could do it. Do you not think that I can?" I asked.

Gaara looked at me in the eyes, "That's not it; I _know_ you can, but if you became a medical ninja you'd still have to go through ninja school and if the village needed it I'd have to send you out on a mission; if it's for your medical skills or because you were a ninja. If something were to happen on that mission there would be a risk-no matter how small-that I'd loose you; and I will _not_ take that chance."

I decided to drop the subject for now, but this was not the end. When we got back, Gaara and I went up to his office and I wrote my letter to Mo like I promised I would. When Gaara had sent a messenger to deliver the letter, I smiled. Yes, I would miss my old home and my old world; but I think…no, I _know_ that I'm going to love it here. You want to know why? The answer is simple; this is my world.


End file.
